Auros Trilogy Part I - Rifted
by Soof49
Summary: Part I of the Auros Trilogy. Follow Auros the Lucario and Vexx the Catsura as they are phased through time to stop a malevolent force. Multiple crossovers in later chapters. Mostly friendship and adventure, but will contain aspects of angst and romance in later chapters. Rated M for descriptive violence / gore, and language (for now. may add more later).
1. Prologue

**XXX**

Here it is! I've actually got quite a few people who are waiting on this story, so I'm pretty happy to finally be releasing it. This is a complete restart of the Auros Trilogy, produced with a heavily modified plot, and more diverse characters. When this is finished, I plan for the entire trilogy to have exceeded 1,000,000 words in total. Yes, I know. Ambitious goals are ambitious.

Thank you to my co-writer, Vexx, for the effort you have poured into this story already. You will see the first of his character here soon, in chapter one. For now, enjoy the prologue.

**XXX**

Prologue

**XXX**

"Doctor Rejitas?"

"Yes?" A lithe man with a rather scruffy and long beard looked up from a paper, with crudely drawn scribbles in various locations on it. It would appear that he had not slept for days – his eyes were bloodshot, and his white hair was sticking up in various directions.

"We're close," the assistant said, nodding. The doctor smiled and clasped his hands together.

"Wonderful! I have been waiting for a long time for this. This time, we'll get it right."

Their past experiments had not been very successful at all. They had tried every Pokémon in the Pokédex, each with a different result. Most ended up as hardly breathing mutated messes, with limbs sticking out all over the place. Doctor Rejitas generally was kind enough to put them out of their misery, but sometimes would keep them alive with sedatives and see what went wrong.

Nevertheless, he was hopeful for this one. They had captured a Riolu that was wandering alone in the forest nearby, and it seemed to be perfect for the experiment. No abnormalities, except for its apparent lack of any moves at all. The scientists had figured that it was because it was most likely still young, but it had actually been alive for several months at that point.

After the assistant left, Rejitas sat and rubbed his temples, lightly disturbing the glasses sitting upon his ears. He had been working for a day nonstop now, trying to finish up the odds and ends for the experiment. They were going to attempt to clone the Riolu, and create a brand new one out of it. Cloning had been something greatly sought after in the Pokémon world, and to have this technology would prove to be monumental for their research group, earning them tons of money and fame.

Furthermore, having the ability to clone Pokémon would resolve some of the major issues that most trainers faced. For example, there are many species out there that are much more rare than others, and by having the ability to clone such species, there would be much less hoarding of the most rare Pokémon, who would be able to live more freely without trainers constantly pursuing them.

At least, that's what the _scientists _thought. They never even tried to imagine what the repercussions of doing this could be.

"It's time."

Doctor Rejitas looked up, his thoughts scrambling away from him. He smiled and nodded at the assistant, who scurried away again, presumably to finalize some settings. It was definitely going to be their largest attempt yet – a lot had improved between this one and the last one.

He stood up, pushing the chair back from his desk, and surveyed his room. The experimentation building that they worked in had offices and quarters for every scientist, while all the workers and grunts had bunks and game rooms / lounges. Rejitas, being one of the most esteemed scientists on site, was given a rather large office. On his desk sat a very advanced computer, capable of performing many experiments at once, all while displaying digitized models of any given experiment. He had been there for six months total now, and thus there were many stacks of papers gathered on his desk, and a general look of a disheveled area given to it.

Around the office, there was a small section set up for personal labs, as well as some recreational electronic devices in case he was not up to par for the day.

The laboratory was an extensive and huge one, being able to house hundreds of scientists and thousands of workers at once. It had many underground layers, containing some of their most prized and secret possessions. On the bottommost floor, in the northern corridor of the complex, was the cloning chamber, the point of interest for the day. The corporation was known by only one name: _Astrias Industries._

Built by genuine scientists, it was designed as a testing platform for new and more effective potions. However, it continued to expand, and more and more scientists were pushed underneath the roof. Eventually, instead of expanding horizontally, it expanded downwards, creating the complex that it became.

However... it was not always solely built for good purposes. The Sinnoh region underwent some changes, resulting in a corrupted government taking reign of the region for many years. It was eventually put out of power, and the people were able to restore the government to its former glory through the help of Hoenn and Kalos forces.

Not all of the remnants for the former government disappeared, though. One of the things that was corrupted by the government was _Astrias Industries._ It was shortly after the new government had taken power, and things were looking bleak for many citizens of Sinnoh..

**XXX**

_35 years ago..._

**XXX**

"Clear testing chamber."

"Clearing testing chamber!"

A flurry of workers scurried out of a large underground room. This particular day, in this particular room was being occupied by Astrias Industries' research section K, known unofficially as the Tridents. A team of approximately 10 scientists and 100 workers, they were mostly associated with Pokémon ball technology, creating more efficient and safer ones. They had just designed a new variant of the Ultra Ball, which they were hoping would resolve some previous errors revolving around the catching mechanism. A faulty energy beam had plagued the last generation of Ultra Ball, and had resulted in many angry letters from trainers who had wasted one on a supposedly easy catch.

Doctor Malstrom watched with genuine interest as the workers flocked from the testing chamber, retreating to the safety bunks for the experiment. He had been pursuing this project for days, and he had hoped to finally resolve some of the bigger issues surrounding their most popular ball for Ace trainers.

"Testing chamber clear. We are good to go, Doctor," a fellow scientist said, preparing to write down the details of the experiment. Malstrom nodded, and looked at the mechanism. It was a simple one, but dangerous nonetheless – if a human was to be caught in the red energy beam, it would surely be the death of the organism, who was not designed to be put inside the ball. Usually, there is a safety mechanism that would not open the ball unless thrown at a wild Pokémon, but for experimentation purposes, it was disabled to provide the best results. The test was a replica abiotic Pokémon, used for humane purposes.

"Alright," Malstrom muttered, looking down at a flimsy piece of paper in his hands. "Astrias Industries R.S. K Tridents; standby for experiment K-1852-D. Testing Ultra Ball Revision 86-84D, final or conclusive test. Experimental danger: high. All workers, please retreat to the safety bunkers." Malstrom gave a nod to a few scientists a short distance away, before staring back out at the machine that would perform the experiment.

"Begin spin cycle."

"Spin cycle initiating!"

The machine began to spin, replicating the effects of a real Ultra Ball spinning through the air. The room filled with a loud clattering noise, but everything seemed steady from the temperature and pressure gauges below. Malstrom pursed his lips, glancing upwards briefly. He thought he heard a strange popping noise, but ignored it – they were too close to shut down the experiment.

"Alright. Prepare to discharge red energy," Malstrom muttered, starting to grow a bit nervous. The popping noises from above went off in short bursts, and it sounded like it was approaching. They were so close though..

"Discharge red energy now!" Malstrom shouted suddenly, his anxiety cracking over him like an egg over a scalding pan. The scientist was startled for a moment by the shout, but turned and slammed his palm on the red button that would discharge the energy and truthfully tell whether their revisions were successful or not..

_**KKSSSSHHHSSHSHHSHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh...**_

The room grew silent as everything was enveloped in a harsh darkness, and the sound of the machine powering down. Malstrom widened his eyes.

"What happened?!" he shouted, looking around but not being able to see anything. The other scientists began to clamor about amongst themselves, scrambling for anything they could see – the faint light from a gauge, or even the outlines of the people around them. Below, Malstrom heard shouting and yelling from the workers in the safety bunkers.

In the next second, the room lit up dimly with a red light, indicating that the emergency generators had kicked on. Almost immediately after that, the alarms went off. Malstrom's heart dropped – he had been trained to know what every alarm meant, and the one he was hearing now indicated an alarm that was present throughout the _entire _complex.

An alarm that indicated that there were intruders. His heart sank even more as the popping noises began to clear up, and he realized that they were _gunshots._

Malstrom snapped out his daze, and began to shout orders immediately. He ran over to the intercom, which was thankfully still working and would cast his voice to all the workers below.

"All workers! Get to the armory now! Astrias Industries is under attack! This is _NOT _a drill!"

The workers below quieted down for a few moments, before erupting into a panicked mess. Malstrom sighed from his position above them, a small room that acted as an observatory for the testing chamber. It housed all ten scientists, and was the connection from their testing chamber to the rest of the complex. The doctor looked out, watching as the workers scrambled for their meager armory of around 5 assault rifles and 20 pistols, as well as body armor. They were still in the process of stocking theirs – undoubtedly, the research sections that were formed before them had fully stocked armories.

Malstrom turned around, rubbing his temples as the gunshots and the sounds of shouting, screaming, and bloodshed grew closer yet. All the other scientists were standing in a stunned silence, waiting for their orders. He opened his mouth, forming an excellent plan in his head.. it was so simple, and they could beat back whoever was trying to attack them...

_**CRASH**_

From this moment on, everything was a blur. Malstrom jumped, the door slammed open. He recognized their uniforms immediately – it was Sinnoh's new governmental forces, and judging by the looks on their faces, they were NOT fighting to protect them.

But he wasn't able to look at their faces for long, as the first one to come crashing through the door began to unload his assault rifle into the room, forcing all the scientists to drop to the floor in panic. Bullets smashed into the glass interfaces scattered about in the room, sending sharp shards scattering around the room and cutting the people who were on the floor. Malstrom laid on the floor, stunned, as he heard bloodcurdling screams and the shouts of scientists being shot up around him. The people, the friends he knew for years, all their lives coming to an end. Another gunman entered the small room, furthering the hellstorm of bullets all around them.

Malstrom thought it would never stop, but only a few seconds later, _it did._ The room hung with the heavy odor of gunpowder, and the only sounds were a few remaining hot shell casings rolling on the floor, as well as the strangled breathing of any scientist still alive. Malstrom couldn't help but to imagine that they were most likely choking on their own blood, and resisted the urge to vomit right there. Not to mention that he felt a warm liquid sticking to his body, most likely the blood of the scientist who had been standing next to him only a few seconds ago...

A few more soldiers filed into the room, kicking and shooting any remaining scientists. A team was dispatched down below, where they began to exchange shots with the workers. Malstrom willed the workers to win, to remain resilient, and to save the facility. Any second now, one of the government forces would approach him, see him still breathing, and his life would be brought to a swift and bloody end...

Instead, he felt the back of his shirt grabbed, and one of the soldiers lifted him up. At this point, the panic overwhelmed him and Malstrom began to take sharp intakes of air, his mind trying to find _any _way out of this seemingly hopeless situation. He began to sob, but the soldier smashed the side of his head painfully with a pistol, which nearly knocked him out. His vision grew red for a few seconds, before he briefly looked up. However, he wasn't even able to look at his assailant as he was turned around harshly and forced to face the window of the observatory room. Down below, he could see that the workers had barricaded themselves in various locations of the testing chambers, and were firing off shots at the small team the government forces had sent.

As a final sign of bondage, the soldier wrapped a long strip of tape around Malstrom's mouth, inhibiting further communication. He smashed his fist on the intercom button – Malstrom couldn't help but to think that it would eventually break, and that they'd have to order a new one if he somehow made it out of this alive...

"Listen up!" the soldier spoke in a heavy Sinnoh accent, which implied a nationalistic group. "We have your head scientist. Drop your weapons, and he will not be harmed!"

Malstrom wanted to speak out, to tell his valiant soldiers not to give in to the demands, that his life wasn't worth this facility. Unfortunately, he also knew his worker's loyalty to him, and that they would without hesitation sacrifice themselves for him. He wanted so badly to cry out, to tell them to fight on, but... one simple piece of duct tape plastered on his mouth would doom the facility.

Unceremoniously, the workers began to stop firing back, and the room fell into an eerie silence. The soldier grew impatient, and repeated his demand, causing the workers to drop all their weapons to the floor with many _thunks_. The soldier smiled, before issuing an order through his headset. The team filed into the room, switched their rifles into a machine-gun mode, and unleashed _hell _upon the workers.

Malstrom couldn't watch as screams surrounded him, his ears violated from the inside out as he heard the slaughter of all his grunts. They had been taken by surprise – in retrospect, they should have seen it coming, but they wanted nothing more than to make sure their leader stayed safe. It took a few minutes, but every single worker was killed. The screams and horrifying choking noises of the stragglers eventually died down, leaving behind a bloody pool. Malstrom could practically taste the tainting smell of human blood and death in the air, and he resisted the urge to vomit again.

A hot breath rolled over his ear, and the soldier behind him smiled while the doctor shuddered.

"_Thank you,_" he whispered. Malstrom closed his eyes and let a few tears roll down his face as he felt the cold steel barrel of a pistol placed against the back of his head, and he quickly made his last thoughts.

_Mom, Dad, I lo-_

**XXX**

_35 years later..._

**XXX**

Doctor Rejitas smiled. He had read about the heroic attack on the facility many times, and how the brave and immature government forces had managed to overwhelm the strong security that Astrias Industries possessed at the time. The new Sinnoh government was foolish, though, in his mind, and had not properly prepared for the inevitable counterattack from the other democratically oriented regions. Ultimately, he hoped to one day retake Sinnoh, and complete the objectives the old government failed to even start on. Until then, they'd have to live as exiled members, all of them confined to this complex until they could mount a successful attack.

Astrias Industries _was _self-sustaining, but.. it was not the ideal place to live. Many scientists and workers constantly expressed their wish to be free once again, to be able to roam the countryside of Sinnoh and find wild Pokémon, be a regular trainer like everyone else. But the government and Astrias Industries maintained an uneasy ceasefire. Both sides knew that they would be unsuccessful in a head-on assault, with Sinnoh's government and army still recovering from the old one, and the pledge to protect Sinnoh from further attacks from both the Hoenn and Kalos regions. Their armies greatly outnumbered the exiles, but they wouldn't give up yet. Not until every last square inch of Sinnoh was under Astrias Industries' control.

Rejitas finally opened the door, and he walked out into the cramped corridors of the complex. It was a five minute walk to the cloning chamber, and he had a bit of time to observe his surroundings like he always did.

Much like that initial hallway, the complex was plagued by hard to navigate hallways, which provided for the perfect defense to keep out intruders. After they took over the complex 35 years ago, Astrias Industries bolstered their defenses immensely, making the facility practically a regional powerhouse, one that could not be assaulted from any angle without inevitable losses. Not to mention that it was far too valuable and far too deeply buried in the ground to be bombed.

Rejitas came out into a nature atrium, one that was smaller than most but still gave him some peace. Other scientists and workers milled about, some conversing, others scurrying off to most likely watch the looming cloning experiment.

That reminded him that he had forgot some papers back in his office – he ran back as quickly as possible, nearly pushing over a few startled workers, before snatching up the papers on his desk. Now late, he sighed and made his way to the testing chambers, where the newly formed Astrias Industries Research Section A-V had assembled. Like all the others, it was 25 scientists and 250 workers strong. Since the population increase from 35 years ago, the teams were expanded to include more. With this, the testing chambers expanded in size too. Rejitas could only make rough estimates on how many the facility actually held, but he assumed that there was well over 10,000 people.

Arriving in the chambers, he looked around. A modernized observation had been built in place of the old one, with many holographic screens lining the walls and in various parts of the room. Several scientists greeted him, but the others were too busy with their work to even notice him. Rejitas didn't mind – he was simply too ecstatic to reprimand them, and he assumed that they were excited too.

Rejitas cleared his throat and squinted at the piece of paper through his glasses. It was complex, to say the least.

…...**ENCRYPTION CODE**...

**RESEARCH SECTION A-V A.I IS TO**

**PROCEED WITH THE DESIGNATED**

**INSTRUCTIONS BELOW. INITIATE**

**PROJECT A/V-9590-A AT 0450**

**HOURS ON DATE SPECIFIED BY**

**CO. CODE IS AS FOLLOWS**...

The paper was printed to provide maximum information in as little space as possible. Rejitas calmly pressed the button on the intercom, creating a slight blare that catches everyone's attention.

"Welcome, R-SAV. This project is one of the largest we've had in a while, and me, as well as a lot of other scientists think we will finally be able to accomplish our objectives. In case you have not been informed yet, we have caught a Riolu with absolutely no abnormalities in its system. If we can successfully replicate it, we can expand our interests from there and move to more complex Pokémon. For official purposes, I will now announce the encryption code. Twenty-five random and secret workers need to confirm this for the project to begin. The code is: A-5-9-0-4-L-V-M-1-1-A-G-K." Rejitas repeated it for good measure, and waited for an interjection from any of the workers. When none of them said anything, he nodded to the other scientists. "Alright. Encryption code confirmed. Experiment A/V-9590-A is a go. All workers, retreat to safety bunkers while I explain the details."

He waited a few moments as all 250 workers filed into the safety area, as a cloning experiment was often highly volatile. Many workers had been lost in the past due to unsafe procedures, but recently, they have had virtually no casualties.

"Astrias Industries R-SAV; standby for experiment A/V-9590-A. Testing cloning mechanism AX-50 on P-447, male Riolu. First test. Experimental danger: very high. All workers, please remain in your safety bunkers during the course of this experiment."

He paused for a few seconds, apparently musing, before continuing. "Project's unofficial designation is 'AUROS'," he said, smiling. "Project AUROS beginning now. Initiate machine start up!"

Rejitas gave a brief nod to the rest of the scientists in the room, who were waiting in an anticipating silence. One of them pressed a few buttons on a holographic screen, causing the cloning machine to come to life and hum with energy.

"Initiate matter replicator."

The Riolu inside the machine looked around, frightened, before a laser began to make its way slowly up from the bottom of it to the top, scanning every fragment of its DNA to near perfection. Soon, a computer model image was formed on one of the holographic screens, giving off millions of pieces of information revolving around the make of the Riolu. Using the DNA's structure, it also formed a computer-generated image of one, which looked exactly like the one bound inside the machine.

"Matter replication complete!" a scientist shouted. Rejitas nodded.

"Terminate the Riolu, clear the chamber, and prepare for replication procedure. Are the element reserves filled to the necessary amount?"

"Yes sir. We might have a bit of trouble with the Iron reserve, though," one of the scientists stated, looking at a screen. "However, the Riolu's body has requested elements that we have plenty of."

"Good. Terminate it." Rejitas flicked his hand, indicating to another scientist that he wanted the task done. The scientist waited a few moments, waging a moral conflict in his head, before shaking it away and pressing a few buttons on a screen.

The Riolu howled in the next moment, being killed off quickly by gas emissions. A few more buttons were pressed, and it was dumped below, presumably into a trash compactor. Rejitas furrowed his brow, before sighing and looking around at the scientists near him to see their expressions. They remained completely stoic, not wanting to upset the senior doctor.

"Proceed with replication."

"Yes sir!" Rejitas heard a few clicks behind him, and the machine rattled to life again. It began to glow brightly, an indication of how fast it was actually moving to create the Riolu. It was a tedious process, and the faster it was done, the better in his mind.

A few minutes later, the brightness dimmed, and the cloning machine cooled down to a red hot color, before returning to its original grayish color. He waited ten more minutes, filling the cloning chamber with a very cold gas to speed up the procedure. It was time to see if their efforts were in vain – Rejitas ordered several workers into the chamber to open up the machine.

Rejitas awaited in anticipation, as the other scientists in the room crowded around the observation window. They looked nervously at the entrance of the machine, as the workers struggled to get the heavy door open. It finally unbolted and swung open, a flurry of gas escaping it and blocking their view of whatever the machine had replicated inside. A few seconds more, and they would see it...

Laying on the floor of the machine, unconscious, was a new Pokémon. Rejitas stared at it, his face unchanging. Slowly, his lip curled into a frown.

It was not actually a new Pokémon, but another Riolu. Unfortunately.. instead of blue fur, it had white fur. Instead of black chest fur, it had gray chest fur. Its eyes were green instead of red, and the usual bone that stuck out of its paws was missing. Rejitas sighed, pressing the intercom once again as the room fell into an eerie silence.

"Project AUROS is a failure," he said, writing on a piece of paper at the same time for documentation purposes. He made sure to note all the features of it. "Cloned Riolu has..." he glanced over at a holographic screen, before growling. "85% physical strength of original Riolu. Genetic mutations have removed outcrops of steel, although its body does still show signs of developing steel upon evolution. It was born with.. only Force Palm." He scoffed, and wrinkled his brow, curling his lip in disgust. "..and it appears to have an _abnormal_ sexuality. It is a disgrace to R-SAV. Terminate it at once."

The workers closed in on the white and gray Riolu, lifting their machine guns to kill it in one swift shot...

**XXX**

The white Riolu opened his eyes, hearing commotion all around him. He was confused – he had no prior memories until now.. not even a memory of his previous life. All he knew was that he woke up, and now, when looking around, humans were crowding around him. They held strange devices, pointing them in his direction. Somehow.. although he had no previous memories, it was like he knew how to do everything he needed to do. He felt threat, despite not having any emotions to compare the threat to. He lifted his muzzle, taking in a scent that he didn't know, but knew that it meant something had died anyways. He knew, from pure instinct, how to use his aura already. What he didn't know, however, was that the cloning device failed to transfer the previous Riolu's memories, but had transferred its skills and knowledge.

The white Riolu stood up shakily, its legs brand new to the world. Everything had been happening in slow motion – he had only opened his eyes a few seconds ago, and the humans approaching with the threatening devices were getting closer, shouting something. He heard other humans shouting back. He knew their language... he just had to concentrate.

"..SHOOT IT ALREADY!" a distorted voice blared from above. It was much louder than the rest. One of the workers sighed shakily and held up his gun, before turning his head away again.

"Can't we just imprison it, sir? It.. it didn't deserve this!"

"If you don't shoot it, I will have _YOU _shot for treason. Do you understand me?!"

The worker looked at the Riolu again, before nodding. He held up his gun, breathing in shaky breaths. The Riolu knew that it didn't _want _to harm him, but was going to because the strange voice from above was telling him to. Something wanted to _kill him. _His natural survival instincts took over immediately, that acknowledgment being all that it needed. The Riolu bared his teeth, and lashed out using his Force Palm attack.

The workers barely had time to react. The Force Palm collided with one of their heads, and the sheer power from the attack blew it into pieces, leaving a bloody mess on the floor and bits of the head laying everywhere. The Riolu didn't look twice, instead turning and smashing his palm into another worker's chest, knocking them out. Time was still going very slow for him, and it had only been about three seconds since he burst forth. He looked at the worker who had hesitated to shoot him, and flung himself forward again. Instead, he smashed the gun out of his hands, which clattered to the floor in a broken heap of twisted metal.

At this point, the workers recovered from their shock and the remaining two that were armed raised their guns to fire. Shells flew out of the guns as they erupted, bullets landing everywhere around the Riolu.

Yet, none of them hit him, as he jumped forward again and smashed each palm into the side of their heads, knocking both of them out with weaker and nonfatal attacks. He heard a growl from above as the rest of the workers started to back away.

"All workers! All workers, you are to proceed to the armory at once! I want this _fucking _thing _dead!_"

The Riolu growled, recognizing the harsh language, yet never hearing it before. He looked as several workers rushed for a large door at the other side of the chamber he was in, and decided that he could not face them all at once. Instead, he should focus on getting out of there. That is precisely what he did, when he jumped up to the height of the observation room, thrusted forward, and smashed his paw into the glass. It flared with his aura, shattering the entire window and knocking some of the scientists off their feet. One of them looked at him angrily, before whipping out a pistol. "Get on your feet! Shoot it!" the human shouted, aiming at the Riolu.

He growled, before lunging forward and knocking the scientist down to the ground by swiping at his feet. The pistol clattered uselessly to the ground, and the Riolu disabled it with a well-placed Force Palm attack.

He closed his eyes, the effects of being a newly cloned Pokémon starting to take his toll on him. He resisted the urge to kneel, his stomach wrenching and his throat filling with bile. He swallowed it all down, trying to will himself to form coherent thoughts and to think properly...

_I need to escape._

He had no idea how to escape, but it was certainly his primary objective. By now, the other scientists had gotten up and were rushing over to his location, most likely to strangle him to death. The Riolu jumped up, noticing the door on the other side of the room, and rushed for it. Again, pistol shots erupted all around him, and he heard the crack of tracers whizzing by his fluffy white ears.

"Kill that... Auros thing!" one of them shouted. A bullet snapped by him, slicing his arm open but otherwise leaving him unharmed. He gritted his teeth and held the wound with a paw, blood seeping out from between his digits. Unfocused from his objective, he raised another paw and twisted the door open, slipping outside, and slamming it shut behind him. The halls were narrow and twisty – he could easily escape. He was lucky, too – it was night, so most of the workers and scientists were asleep.

He didn't waste time to think about where he was going, instead choosing to take off in a random direction. The door would only delay the scientists a few seconds, and he heard it wrestled open behind him. Only a few shots were fired, before he rounded a corner and sped down another hall. They couldn't run nearly as fast as him... surely, he must be free-

It was at that moment that the lights in the hallway dimmed, and then strengthened in brightness again with a red hue. An overwhelmingly loud alarm began to wail, and speakers all around him announced, "_ESCAPING SUBJECT FROM CLONING CHAMBER AX-50. ALL SECURITY PERSONNEL, ENTER HIGH ALERT MODE."_

His ears twitched, knowing exactly what those words meant. He frantically scanned around, looking for signs that might help him escape. From his pre-memory knowledge, the stairs indicated that he would be heading upwards, and he knew that he was currently underground due to his sensitive aura abilities. Without further hesitation, he started to clamber up multiple sets of stairs.

Soon enough though, the Riolu could detect footsteps from above – four sets of two shoes, probably a security team. He veered off the stairs, disappearing into another small hallway, and rounding a few more corners to throw them off in case they tried to follow him. He stopped for a few moments, catching his breath after several minutes of nonstop exhilaration.

Another surge of nausea coursed through him, and he heaved. He hadn't eaten anything before, so nothing came out, but the sensation was weakening enough. He hit the cold floor with a knee, trying to catch his breath. The post-cloning weakness was something the scientists hadn't been able to resolve, and this Riolu was no exception to it.

Bracing through the next couple seconds, he stood up and looked around, the hallways quiet and empty. He still wasn't too sure where he was, but he wasn't about to risk going up the same set of stairs again. He pulled his paw off his wound with a slight yank, the blood having dried and making it stick a bit. He was delighted to see that the bleeding had stopped.

_What are my previous memories..? Aaghh... _The Riolu tried as best as he could to retrieve the (nonexistent) old memories, searching for anything that could assist him in escaping. He tried to sense the area around him with his aura, searching for emotions to give him a general picture of the compound, but there were far too many for him to form a comprehensible picture.

"Hey!"

The Riolu whipped around, spotting a guard holding his gun up. He sprinted down the remainder of the hall that he stopped in, bullets landing around him again. He rounded the corner at the last moment, narrowly avoiding a bad wound. His black paws pounded on the old floor, putting a massive amount of distance between the two.

At this point, the alarms had been going off for several minutes, and the Riolu knew that the compound was probably entirely awakened to them. He wasn't sure how far away he was, but he needed to hurry before they are fully organized..

Finally, he reached another stairwell, the door already opened by previous guards. Once again, he flew up the steps, trying to gain as much ground as possible. He climbed nearly 10 floors before they abruptly stopped, and the Riolu cautiously halted at the only unopened door. His eyes scanned it, and he hopped up and pulled down on the door handle, pushing the door open with a quiet creak.

The sight was less than welcoming for the hunted Pokémon, as it appeared to be a massive hangar. He ducked his head back, almost panicking, but quickly realized that none of the guards had spotted him. There were many humans milling about, most of them conversing loudly, shouting instructions, or holding various items of gear. The majority had weapons; the Riolu was not stupid – it would be certain death for him to enter the area. However, his eyes stopped at an opening in the massive hangar.

A rather _large _opening, that is. One that emitted the first sunlight that the Riolu would see. He stared at it, just _knowing _that that was the place he needed to get to. No matter what the cost, he would get out of this complex. One problem lingered: there was still hundreds of humans, armed to the teeth with guns and other various weapons, standing in his way.

The Riolu silently closed the door and his eyes as well, trying to think the situation through tactically. He had noticed several things during his brief look into the hangar. There appeared to be an elaborate ventilation system that had snaked its way around the entire room on the ceiling – it would certainly get him closer.

Furthermore, the hangar was filled with large vehicles and pieces of equipment, which the Riolu could sneak around and keep himself out of sight – it would certainly be risky, but he would most likely get there faster and avoid getting caught or lost in the ventilation systems.

His final option was to make his way to one of the various stairwell entrances near the hangar door, and then just rush it from there. He shuddered at the mere thought of being recaptured by the humans, and immediately shut down that option.

_Option two, then._

The Riolu cracked open the door again, spotting a stack of crates nearby. His eyes traced along the crates, and he mentally plotted a path; in his mind, he didn't have a speed to compare just how fast he had mentally been able to create a plan. It would be one of his most valuable skills.

Taking a deep breath, the Emanation Pokémon pushed the heavy metal door open just a bit farther, scanning hastily for any humans watching. When he saw his next opportunity, he slid outside, closed the door quietly behind him, and dashed behind the stack of crates. He was hidden perfectly – in his position, nobody could see him. Now between the crates and the wall, he edged himself along, his fur sliding along both of the surfaces. Once he cleared the remainder of the small gap, he pressed himself back up against the last crate in the stack, and searched for any surveying humans.

Seeing none once more, he sprinted for the next stack, keeping low to the ground due to his white form being a stark contrast to the mostly black floor.

Scanning once again, the Riolu checked for more humans. Most of them were starting to exit the hangar, entering the various entrances scattered about on the walls. He assumed that they were probably spreading out, looking for him. He smirked, but his scan stopped when he pressed himself against the crate, looking behind him.

There was a human.

He was holding a pistol, aimed right between the Riolu's green eyes. He could detect a faint shaking from the human; he was nervous, and he was constantly wiping sweat away from his forehead.

"Get... down..." he whispered, wiping another accumulation of excess sweat from his forehead. The Riolu could sense that he was incredibly nervous. It was probable that he was new, and did not want to harm him. Astrias Industries had been in the process of brainwashing their new workers, and this man was certainly no exception. Yet, he was new enough to not shoot on sight.

Reluctantly, the white Riolu slid to the ground, lying on his stomach with his head facing the ground. The worker took a few steps forward, bending down to try and grab the Riolu and bring him to certain death. The Pokémon would not allow that. At the last moment, he thrust upwards and smashed his paw into the face of the worker. The poor human was so shocked that he was immediately knocked out by the punch, and the Riolu pitied him for a few seconds. His gaze halted on the pistol laying a couple inches from the man's hand, and his face wrinkled in disgust. He spat in his direction, before proceeding to edge his way closer to the hangar door, continuing to use the crates as protection from the sightline of the humans.

In only a couple minutes, the Riolu managed to make it within 10 feet of the hangar door. At this point, he could take his first breaths of the warm summer air, listen to the charming calls of the bird Pokémon, and see the trees swaying in the refreshing wind. It all seemed so inviting, but... he was completely out of cover. From here, he would have to risk it by sprinting the final ten feet and out the hangar door, facing potentially more guards.

_A few more steps... come on now.._

He took several breaths. What happened now would decide the rest of his life – would he die a short life? Would he make his narrow escape? Thousands of questions ran through his developing mind, and he rapidly analyzed the various outcomes. No matter what the tried though, it always left him with one choice – he had to sprint out this door.

He poked his head out, and looked around the hangar floor for any humans that might spot him. There were still an incredible amount, and he knew that he would not be able to just sneak out without at least someone spotting him. His eyes scanned frantically, dipping into his aura to get a better view of the situation, and he waited.

A quick scuffle was heard, and several guards looked over to see what had caused the strange noise.

"THERE IT IS!"

The Riolu didn't look back. He had already made it outside of the hangar door, and there was indeed no defenses, thankfully. He could already see the forest. All he needed to do was to escape the onslaught of humans that were surely chasing him now.

A snap nearly shocked him and sent him straight to the ground. He saw dust being kicked up in front of them – they were shooting at him, and the bullets were snapping at him like piranhas. Instinctively, he tried to make himself as small of a target as possible, folding his ears down and hugging his tail around his body, all while sprinting as fast as his body could go.

The Riolu stole one last glance behind him, and shuddered in horror. At least 40 humans were chasing him, some of them shooting, while others were simply just running. One had gotten in a vehicle and was driving it, which was slightly faster than him. He tried to increase his pace, but he was already running at his limit.

When he bent back around, he nearly collided with a tree. The forest had arrived a bit faster than he initially expected, and he twisted his white furred body around the tree at the very last second. He shifted again so that their line of sight would be blocked by the tree. Amazingly, he hadn't been shot yet, but there were still bullets landing all around him, and he was still at risk.

Soon, the trees and foliage thickened. He knew the vehicle would not be able to follow, but the humans would surely push through and try to smoke him out.

_**THUD**_

The sickening noise of a bullet striking flesh resonated in the Riolu's ears. In the next second, his nerves registered the pain, and he looked down to see that his stomach was bleeding profusely, coating his white and gray fur with the red substance. Running only seemed to speed up the rate at which he was losing blood, so he had to make a quick decision.

Veering off his original path, the Riolu made a sharp ninety degree turn and ducked into very heavy foliage – he was far enough from the humans that they wouldn't be able to see him make this turn. Evidently, he wasn't far enough to avoid being shot.

The pain began to increase exponentially, and he gritted his teeth. Finally coming to a halt, the Riolu knelt on the ground and pushed his paws against his stomach experimentally. A few groans escaped his muzzle, as well as a couple tears from his eyes from how bad the pain actually was. The bullet had passed cleanly through, leaving two moderately sized holes for blood to seep out of.

He quickly pawed at some grass, pressing it against his wounds in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding, but coming to no avail. He assumed it hit no major organs – otherwise, he'd be dead right now.

The Riolu had just begun to try and use his paws to stop the bleeding, but another surge of nausea caused him to freeze and fall to the ground in pain. This surge of post-cloning sickness was the worst in particular, and he felt as though he was about to faint. It finally passed after a couple seconds, but left him in a state of absolute exhaustion; a culmination of his excessive sprinting, the wound, and the circumstances.

Blood continued to pump out of the wound, fast enough to not allow it to properly clot in time. He shivered on the forest floor, trying to stay as silent as possible and not make the humans aware of his position. He wasn't particularly proud of it either...

_I could not save myself, _the Riolu thought in horror. He had come so far, and for him to succumb to blood loss was... disappointing to him, to say the least. At this point, most of his fur and legs were some shade of red, and the ground beneath him was filling slowly with a pool of blood. His skin was becoming pale, and he was feeling extremely faint. He would not last for another few minutes.

The sky began blackening – at first, he thought it was becoming night, but he realized that his vision was darkening overall. First the edges, and then the rest of his eyes as he slipped into an unconsciousness that would lead to certain death.


	2. Escape

**XXX**

Chapter I, "Escape", has arrived. Realistically, this would be more properly named as "Prologue: Part II", but whatever. The majority of this chapter was written by my co-writer, Vexx (thaaanks). Hopefully, our styles of writing does not differ too much.

This chapter has the first crossover, between Pokémon (obviously) and Guild Wars 2. This will most likely be the case for the rest of the story. And probably the series, since Vexx originated from that game.

**XXX**

Escape

**XXX**

A new set of eyes had awoken, only to be greeted by white spanning in every direction they turned to. "This isn't familiar," he thought as he rose to his hindpaws, carefully looking around, attempting to at least find something different out of this entire "realm" he seems to have stumbled into. "This isn't Tyria, I don't feel like it is. It feels…" He paused, struggling to find the correct description. "Otherworldly…"

Vexx Akanades was his name, or at least simply Vexx as asuran culture paid no attention to surnames. Born as a hybrid between domestic feline and asura, raised like a human, and educated like one who was actually normal of the race he biologically and intellectually connects to the most, Vexx was a rather odd creature, a rather odd person. Some were even surprised by the amount of dedication and care he would give to _others_ than himself, which was something not expected by asura.

He was a mesmer, a thaumaturgical controller of time and space, a person who wields mind magic. Vexx was born with an affinity for this ability, making his learning processes initially simple; but only initially. Trained by his mesmeric father and after undergoing his rather harsh past, some would likely jokingly say that his experiences did more teaching about mesmeric practices rather than simply learning how to control this power.

Briefly did he consider his options, mulling over how he would go about his rather perplexing situation. He was not sure whether to try calling out, or await the arrival of whatever summoned him, or try walking about. Idling did not seem like it would do much good. Who knows what sort of time may be counting down and he does not even realize it? All of these thoughts went through the mind of the cat-asura hybrid, or "catsura" as he more personally calls it.

_This doesn't feel normal, it doesn't feel right,_ he thought, trying to attune his senses to the environment he was in. _Not the Mists, that can't be it, I know everything would feel different to this._ Being this worried over energy was making him almost feel nauseous. Tyria was filled with energy; being surrounded by what felt like none and some at the same time was not something he was used to. With a gulp, he started looking around, trying to get a sense of where he was and try to get his senses out of that pit that he discovered.

All he could see for what was looking like white in every direction he turned to. A fog of the same color seemed to float about, existing only 10 meters away from him. There was nothing that his eyes could see, which were colored in amethyst with a yellow pupil, but a peculiar lack of any whites whatsoever, almost as if the amethyst replaces the sclera. Asura biology had its hand in this. It was this same reason behind why he only has four fingers and three toes, after all.

He shook his head a little, already feeling the jarring perspectives getting to him. It was like he was being paralyzed by nothing, even if it was all in his mind. _What is this?_ he thought. He knew it was all a part of his imagination as well, and yet he simply found difficulty controlling it all. What was he feeling? Did he feel trapped? Is this all simply so very new to him? Vexx thought over the predicament as much as he could, trying to think of something to do. An expletive nearly erupted from the catsura's lips, something that has never happened before in his lifetime-thus-far. Not yet, at least.

Then, he tried shifting his mind back on the options at hand. He could try calling out to whatever was here, even though whatever or whoever brought him here likely already knows. Or do they? Could this have been a teleportation experiment gone wrong? Did this bring him here like the chaotic magic around the heavily-disrupted Thaumanova Reactor? Did the reactor do this? It could not have done so; he lived in Queensdale with his brother, which was such a long walk away that this could be impossible. Yet then again, it brought beings from all across the world already. Did it fail to bring him there?

Slowly, Vexx was finding himself a bit more comfortable. What felt like eight minutes had passed already. Although it was not much, he was slowly becoming used to the atmosphere of where he was. So long as he avoided thinking about it, at least. Closing his eyes, he then let out a slow sigh. _If this is a result from the event at the reactor, then I may be trapped here for all eternity. All my plans, all my work, all of it gone. I just hope my brother will be able to continue where I left off if this is where I will be staying for the next 60 years. _He closed his eyes, starting to cry. "I had so much to do, so many people to save from what _may_ end up be a great threat. I just wanted to help. I didn't want it to end like this…"

His head fell forwards, his body collapsing with it. His body was then completely horizontal.

"Da-" he muttered, stopping himself. Almost his first swear in his life. Given the circumstance, perhaps it would have even been well applied. After a moment's reconsideration however, he decided would wait as long as it took if he had to. "I've done too much already to capitulate to such a happenstance." His head pointed itself forwards. "I will wait for as long as required." Slowly, he tried to push himself back up to sit down instead of lie on his stomach. "Sunlight only disappears for so long, after all."

As if on cue, the area began to grow slightly brighter. From the mist emerged a new and _excessively _large creature, that seemed to make a thunderous boom with every step that it took.

The noise shook his focus back into place. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he quickly stood back up as he faced the direction where he was hearing the source of the sudden disturbance. It was something completely foreign to him - it was mostly white, around ten feet tall, and had some kind of gold flair surrounding it.

It continued to come closer, kneeling down a few steps away from Vexx and staring at the smaller hybrid directly in the eyes.

He blinked, staring at what was to Vexx a very "different"-looking creature. It was something he had not heard nor seen before. With a shaking and shy smile, he only said, "Hi." His hopes were high that it was friendly. It seemed... powerful.

"Greetings," it said with a loud and deep voice, appearing to smirk as it did so. "I am Arceus." It stood back up and took a few steps back, trying to appear more friendly and less intimidating. However, it was still towering over Vexx at around five times his height.

"You are Vexx, correct? I apologize for the slightly intimidating welcoming, but I always like to see how my first guests respond to that." Arceus appeared to continue smirking, almost as if its face was permanently locked in that expression.

_First guest?_ he thought confusedly. "Yes, Arceus. Vexx Akanades." He began to rub the back of his head a bit nervously. It was a very sudden transition in scenery, after all. Nonetheless, his lack of words still indicated he was more perplexed than anything. At least he was calming down a bit, as it did not seem _as_ much that something bad was about to occur.

Arceus, whose voice evidently indicated it was male, narrowed his eyes, now gazing directly into Vexx's own eyes. He tilted his head and chuckled. "Why have you been crying? I do not wish for you to feel sad… I'm sure that the prospect of starting a whole new adventure excites you! Does it not?" He shuffled one of his hooves on the ground. "You.. you do know what is happening, correct? Did Dialga inform you of why you have been summoned? Based upon your expressions, and... " He seemed to focus on Vexx for a few moments. "..emotions, you are completely confused."

The catsura's expression gradually shifted from confusion to curiosity. "I haven't come across anyone by the name of Dialga." His paw reached up to briefly wipe his eyes again. "What you've inferred is correct, though; I am very much confused by what is happening here."

Arceus's expression shifted to one of mild frustration, and he stamped one of his hooves on the ground in anger. "I told him to notify you beforehand!" He shook his head, looking down apologetically at Vexx. "I apologize for all this. You clearly have not been informed of the situation; therefore, I will tell you." He leaned in close once again, not blinking. Strangely, his smirk seemed to have disappeared.

"Currently, you are in the Continuum. This is essentially a pocket dimension that serves as a bridge between universes. There are many pocket dimensions, with many different gods controlling each one. I control a certain amount of universes.. all part of something commonly known as the 'Multiverse Theory'. That is besides the point, however. I have extracted you from your universe due to your extraordinary mental skills, which are needed elsewhere at the current moment. This is not for my benefit only - it is for yours as well. Usually, I would not pull someone from their universe to help elsewhere if their own universe was in danger as well…" He smiled sadly, closing his eyes and looking away.

"That being said. There is an unidentified and malevolent force that has been wreaking havoc across one universe in particular. Interestingly enough, it is my home dimension. The situation is getting out of hand - already, most of the universe has been occupied. If it is not stopped, it will use the Continuum to bridge the gap and spread to other dimensions, and I would not be surprised if your dimension would fall under attack as well."

Arceus bowed his head, before looking at Vexx apologetically. "You will be in our debt for this. I am aware that you have probably never handled something on this scale, but I can assure you that you will not be alone."

He had specifically made special precautions to not mention anything to the hybrid about having a choice. Unfortunately, there was none - he'd hate to have to break it to him like that, but the force was a threat to everyone. With all of his subordinates already occupied in other places, trying to restrain this force, he had to look towards other, more _mortal _sources of great power.

_So the reactor didn't place me into a potentially inescapable dimension of space,_ he thought, unable help but sigh out of relief. _Now my specialties are required elsewhere? Far, far elsewhere? Sounds like every asura's dream, as far as being enveloped in developing their own greatness goes._ Briefly, Vexx shook his head, then looked at Arceus with an expression of immense certainty in what he was about to say. _Good thing I'm not very connected to such a mentality._ "It will be done," he said. "Such a breach on such a scale for vile purposes simply isn't acceptable."

Arceus breathed out in relief. "Wonderful! I was afraid you would be less accepting of this role. I have had to resort to less.. conventional methods of convincing others to join the cause. I am not proud of those moments.." He looked on into the distance, before shaking his head. "Regardless, there is no time to waste. I have the ability to manipulate time in dimensions to my will, so I will completely pause time in your dimension while you are off in the one I am about to send you to. To your brother, it will seem like only a second before you are returned to him, in case that was a concern. Well.. hopefully you will return.." He laughed at his own foreboding words.

"I would not worry about that though. Take this one step at a time - you will have a decent gap where my subordinates and I should be able to hold off the malevolent force, while you become accustomed to the new dimension. I will be transporting you to a planet known as 'Earth', a modernized world with special creatures, such as myself, known as Pokémon. You will be informed of the rest over time. However, there is not much time to waste. A certain Pokémon is relying on your visit very soon here.."

A brow on the hybrid started to raise. "Relying? He's aware of my coming?"

Arceus shook his head sadly. "He is not aware.. but he _will _be dependent on your arrival. I will place you close to him, close enough to find him... _quickly_, if that gives you an idea."

"Then please take me there immediately, Arceus. I'll get to work once I'm there," he said quite firmly. Whatever it was, it was urgent, and it was clear to him that lingering any further would not be good.

Arceus took a couple steps back, smiling at the encouragement of the small hybrid. It was rare to have someone this enthusiastic about being whisked away from their home, to a new and foreign place, to help a cause that they might not even believe in themselves. He mused at what could be going on in Vexx's mind.

"Very well. I will stay in touch."

He slowly turned around completely and stalked away, the same thunderous steps shaking the perspectiveless environment around Vexx. With every step that he took, the Continuum shook itself - in fact, right beneath Vexx's feet, the white expanse began to break away, various pieces of it falling to infinitely deep and black depths below. Arceus disappeared into the mist, but the pieces kept falling, the void threatening to consume the hybrid.

Vexx's eyes widened once he saw the surface he stood on breaking away underneath him. Although the surprise made his heart begin to race, he stood still, trying to remain calm. With closed eyes, he took a deep breath, hearing Arceus' steps move away from him. It was clear this was intended. _If I resist, who knows who becomes endangered by such an action?_ he thought, before he fell into the void as well.

_If help is needed for a good cause, help is what I will provide. This is my thinking, this is my purpose. This is my life._

**XXX**

_A few hours before the escape attempt at Astrias Industries…_

**XXX**

"Time to get up already, Vexx. You've a task to do," he said to himself.

It was only a few minutes since his eyes at last opened to see the sunlight. He was not too sure what the time of day was, though. A new world, no sense of direction: all he saw were trees around him and his left leg lifted up a little with a small, fallen tree branch, while the rest of his body was quite horizontal.

"I don't know what danger he could be in." He lightly pushed the branch away with his right hindpaw. "I don't know how much longer he has left." The upper half of his body started to raise, supported by his arms. Eventually, he managed to fully stand up. "But I think..." He then twisted and turned his body in different angles, stretching. "But I think the time of resting needs to stop here."

Looking around, he was greeted with the same sight as he always saw: Trees, everywhere. It almost seemed that every direction had them. But what are the odds of there being something more?

Walking up to one of the taller ones, his hindpaws crunching on the orange or brown leaves that had fallen to the ground, indicating to him that it was fall in this world, he turned around, his back against the trunk and leaning on it. "If my prowess won't cause much harm to the energetic ecosystem as Arceus implied, I suppose this means I'm cleared to do this." Immediately, his body disappeared in a flash, a very light fog with a purple hue surrounding where he previously was. A moment later, he was sitting from the highest branch, already scanning the area around him.

The sky was rather cloudy, as to be expected at this time of year. All of the trees still had at least most of the leaves on them.

"So it's not that late in the season," he whispered to himself as he continued examining the surroundings.

Vexx saw a few buildings in a varying directions, stacks of smoke coming from one of them. Then when he turned his body around to look in the opposite direction, he saw a few city buildings that were far, far in the distance, as well as a rather large structure that would take possibly 15 minutes of walking to reach.

"Hopefully I'll get some directions or help or something from there," he chimed. "I really need to find this person, and fast. Maybe he'll be over there." Climbing his way down the tree, he began his small trek to the large building. Since it was the closest thing ever to symbolize civilization, he might as well try it.

**XXX**

_Meanwhile..._

**XXX**

"Hey Taylor!" one of the guards called, seeing his companion approaching. "How'd you like the promotion?"

"Ehh," she said, mostly shrugging it off. "I don't know. Pretty happy."

"'Pretty happy'?" the other guard spoke up. "What, you don't feel like being higher up like your dad like you always wanted?"

She looked at the second guard who spoke up. "Actually, I'm not sure how I feel about it anymore. I remember him telling me all the time about his mission with Full Reset. It was always fun to hear before, but I dunno how I feel with trying to follow where he went in the military and all."

"Maybe it'll cheer you up to hear it told to you again?" the first guard said.

"Or maybe re-telling it yourself!" the second guard said.

Taylor turned to face the first guard. "Peter, who's going to tell it if my father's dead? I know anyone who helped with that operation would be able to tell the story, but it isn't going to be the same."

"Eh, then I guess Randy's idea'll help." His head turned to face the second guard.

"I don't know..." Taylor replied.

"Go on," Peter said. "You've told us plenty of times already. Another one won't hurt, right?"

Taylor sighed, leaning against the guard shack, placing the assault rifle next to her, its barrel pointing upwards as it leaned against the building. "Fine, I guess. So... when Bradford told him to go, Hector moved in to-"

"No, Taylor, tell us how it went from the start!" Randy said excitedly. Clearly he did not get enough of it either.

She sighed again, moving her body to look at Randy, who was in the guard shack. "Really? _That_ far back?" Taylor's head leaned back against the shack, her military hat folding from the force applied to it. "Alright, well… it started out when my father, Captain Hector Bay, was told to report into the office of Colonel Melvin J. Cross. He had assembled other officers around Hector's rank as well: a few other captains, as well as a major. Cross told him, 'Astrias Industries is a complex that has the space and resources that can be used for an array of research options. It's come to our government's attention, finally, that it needs to be within our hands.' Then the planning followed."

"The plan was to go in with 1,000 infantry to go against what intelligence estimated to be 1,500 facility staff, which consisted of guards and scientists. It was also unlikely to have defenses such as mounted or automated turrets. It was also said activity was spiking there, meaning it was more likely to catch them off guard if their timing was right. Because of the staff's recorded patterns, Sinnoh military intelligence thought it was likely that later in that week, they would be just about to begin something. And, like I said, they would be distracted so it would be a good moment to attack."

"I wonder how intel managed to get in anyway," Peter questioned.

"Probably guessed it from how the activity was going on the internal surface floors," Taylor responded. Hidden cameras, a few spies, you know. Anyway, 50 were supposed to attack from the roof by helicopters once the sun had set, because they would be less likely to be detected without equipment. Meanwhile, by the time they got in, the rest would move in from the hangar and several side entrances to ensure no one escaped. Going down, the rest would be done through strategic planning from there with a hint of guesswork, since our intelligence didn't know much of what was down there. That was the plan."

"Once all of the officers including Hector agreed on the mission, they went to notify the soldiers who worked under them. Preparations began, briefings were... almost freaking inculcated, actually. But you guys know the drill, all sorts of things were done to make sure everyone was ready for the fight ahead."

"Seven days and several hours later, night arrived and everyone was getting into position. Helicopters were prepped and took off to head for Astrias Industries. Each one holding 10 soldiers, the helicopters hovered above the facility where they dropped down on the roof, smashed glass open, and began opening fire on the personnel. Of course, some scrambled and tried to find a gun or something, but they were all brought to quick deaths regardless. A couple floor clearings later, Captain Bay was near the main floor when he heard an exchange of gunshots. After he ordered 40 to continue clearing the rest of the floors and to meet him in the main lobby, he grabbed the remaining 10 and managed to surround and remove the resistance that was giving the main assault force trouble."

"Once everything was out of the way, the forces grouped together to begin sweeping the lower levels. After finding someone's ID to grant them clearance to use the stairs and elevator, Hector was tasked along with Captain Olyvia Daniels to start sweeping the area in the stairway and prevent anyone from disabling the elevator. As alarms kept blaring in people's ears, the two captains hadn't found anyone in the stairway, but there were several armed civilians at the door. Once it was opened, they didn't wait to start shooting, which got the two soldiers opening it killed immediately. Even so, they still had to clear out the area, so-"

Randy quickly interrupted. "Taylor?"

"Yeah, Randy?"

"Adams is coming."

She looked back to the entrance of Astrias Industries, watching as her supervisor drew closer. Something was in his hand, something mobile. It looked like a laptop. _Is he about to show us something?_ she thought.

"Corporal Bay!" Adams shouted. His gaze fixed itself on Randy and Peter, before returning to Taylor. "Privates Barnes and Crews!"

"Yes sir?" the trio responded in unison.

"This entire area is restricted. By no means, are you all allowed to have visitors, guests, et cetera."

"What are you talking about?" Peter asked.

Adams pulled out his laptop, opening it up and facing the screen away from him. The cameras were on it. His finger pointed and tapped at a specific one with a different creature easily visible on the black and white camera feed. It was sitting right next to the guard shack. The anomaly, rather feline in appearance, turned its head to look at the camera, waving at it.

"What the hell?" Randy said.

Adams saw a russet-and-gray tail gently swing to the creature's right, landing away from him and the tail coming into view. The officer eyed Taylor Bay again. "You just made corporal. I don't want to take it away from you if I don't have to. Please deal with the situation quickly. Other agendas need my attention." He then closed his laptop and turned around, walking back toward the building.

The moment Adams showed the camera, Randy already took aim. Peter took a moment to see, only to do the same. Once Adams was on his way away, Taylor started grabbing her assault rifle, then standing up.

"This isn't the place for you, cat," Peter said to it. "You oughta get going."

"Excuse me?" it said, a rather high-sounding voice coming from it, vaguely sounding male. Its tail shifted around on the paved ground a little bit. "I prefer 'catsura', personally. That's only me, however. Not an official term; call it what you will."

"'Catsura'?" Taylor questioned.

"A hybridization between a domestic feline and an asura. It's unlikely you've heard of such. Even if we've been around for… quite a few years."

Peter shook his head. "Look, this area isn't for you. Get going, or we'll have no choice but to make you leave."

"You always have a choice, regardless of what anyone tells you." Its tail started to move more noticeably, raising, as if the creature was about to stand up. "No matter what _anyone _tells you. No matter the situation; the only choice you have is to do or not do what someone wants you to do." Its face showed from the corner, looking at the weapons pointed at it. It had eyes that were practically without the white of scleras, almost as if the amethyst coloring took the role of the sclera and iris. Its pupils appeared quite yellow as well.

"Doesn't matter here and now," Randy said sternly, rather annoyed. "Go back where you came from."

"Judging by the story I've been overhearing, you people aren't the friendliest bunch," the catsura said.

"Not around this facility, no," Taylor replied, defending herself.

"You can still be non-hostile without needing to point weaponry or such excessively firm wording."

"Then people like you would stick around when you need to be _gone_," Peter said.

The hybrid only sighed. "Not at least going to give me a warning shot? I already passed the line where that would be-"

Randy was quick to pull the trigger right next to the creature's right hindpaw, the bullet landing in the pavement. "You were saying?"

Although it flinched, quite noticeably in fact, not quite expecting that mid-sentence, it seemed satisfied judging by its grin. "Perfect." It then turned around, then started walking straight away. The trio waited a while before he was far enough where it was very unlikely that they could be heard.

Already, Randy lowered his gun, leaning it on the interior wall inside of the guard shack. "'Catsura'?" he questioned.

Taylor started to lower her rifle as well, but did not place it anywhere yet. "Nothin' I've heard of before…"

"Those… clothes look like feminine colors," Peter noted. "Bright purple and yellow. Does it look female?"

"I don't know," Taylor responded. "All I know is, I don't think I've seen something like it around here before."

"He could be a Pokémon," Peter said. "If it's never been documented, who knows what we could get from this?"

Taylor shook her head. "But Adams already knows. Technically, _he's_ seen it first. Not documented, but…"

Randy shrugged. "If it's the first, it's an undiscovered Pokémon. Whenever we're off duty, we should try catching it. See what we get out of it."

"I don't know about that, Randy," Peter said. "By that time, it'll be long gone. We'll need something to track it down."

"My slurpuff," Taylor remembered. "She'll track it down, no matter how long it'll take."

Peter smiled. "Good. We'll have it in no time, then. Hopefully before Adams decides to take action, if he even is."

Randy nodded as he said, "Count me in."

Their plans were ready. Only obstacle for the moment was time…

**XXX**

_Three hours later..._

**XXX**

Vexx sat on the rather exposed roots of a tree, looking rather defeated. "Nothing," he said after a sigh. "I can't find him or her… or it." His head rolled back until it landed on the tree. His body started to slide further downward, eventually almost laying down on the tree and the grassy ground. "I'm sure those people are affiliated with this person, but I can't find any trace. Even worse, I haven't managed to find any food, I can't find anything. Though I've found berries in a few places, I don't know what's poisonous and what isn't." Vexx's head rolled lifelessly to his left. "Where are you?" he whispered. "I know you're out there. Something endangers you. I have to help somehow…"

Five minutes, ten minutes, 30, he was unaware of how much time had passed. All he did was tiredly lay there, without a sense of direction, with an empty stomach, and hope slowly fading away. Then he heard a shout… several shouts.

_What is this?_ As his sharp feline ears began to tune to the source of the cacophony, slowly he turned his head to look at the structure he had "visited" just moments ago. As Vexx began to move in closer, trying to see clearly of what was happening, he could hear an alert coming from an audio system that was conveying the situation. It did not take long to realize it was the same name as the "Adams" person he came across before.

"Attention! Test subject of Project AUROS is escaping from Chamber B6. All armed personnel prepare for termination. Subject is an unusually-colored Riolu, featuring primarily colors of white and black. I repeat: Test subject of Project AUROS escaped from Chamber B6. All armed personnel, terminate _immediately_."

Vexx came across a large, hangar-like entrance in the building. He even saw armed guards running about. This opportunity was enough to reawaken his senses. A lot of belief was placed into this very moment that whoever the personnel were trying to find was, indeed, the one he was told to search for.

_So the time has come_, Vexx thought. _Best not to dawdle._ After a thorough scan of the area, both for sound, visuals, and energy, he managed to get close to the hangar. Close enough to remain behind trees and not be spotted by the six soldiers who were standing guard. _I'll have to clear an entrance for him or her if they're approaching from here._ He saw a panel on the wall above the hangar door begin to light up, looking as if it were about to shift to reveal something unwelcoming.

Unwilling to take the risk, he raised his paws and aimed at the panel. Just before it opened up, which Vexx felt it trying to do at that very moment, it become enveloped in a vibrant shade of purplish energy. He focused hard on it, trying to destroy the machine within. As his teeth clenched down, he felt the machinery start to crack, the purple energy was visibly rippling, heavily and violently. Once he heard a very harsh, metallic snap, seeing smoke barely coming out of the panels, he lowered his paws.

"What the hell was that?" one of the soldiers said, turning to look at a shade of purple that was just beginning to dissipate. "Was that one of our turrets?"

Another one looked up at it. "You're right, it is! We're under attack!" He quickly surveyed the forest in front of the hangar, searching for whatever caused it to happen. The other soldiers did the same.

The first soldier quickly caught a glimpse at the hybrid, shouting "I see him!" as he opened fire on the area, three others following his lead. After the burst of bullets fired in that direction, there was nothing more they could hear or see.

"Think we got him?" a third soldier asked.

"Let's not check," the second soldier said. "If he's alive, we run risk of a surprise coming our way. Besides, what if the escapist makes his way here?"

_Escapist_, Vexx echoed in his mind. He sat on a tree branch, which faced directly away from the guarded entrance, focusing his energy into his next method of attack. Two butterflies then appeared in front of him, colored entirely in a solid purple: wings, abdomen, everything on its body only one color. One remained with Vexx on the branch. The second one however, went fluttering toward the sentries that blocked the path. Meanwhile, his eyes remained closed as he continued to focus on the moment at hand.

"Over there!" the first soldier shouted, seeing the butterfly. He was not going to be fooled; it was the very same color that he saw on the turret panel. It was not long before he began firing bullets at it, trying to keep it away.

The summoned creature flew in unpredictable sways and spirals, evading each projectile that went right by it, each bursted bullet becoming very close to colliding with its body every time. If Vexx did not test the weaponry like he did before with the three guards from earlier, with the intention of analyzing the speed and potential damage that could be done with such bullets, this might have went differently.

Then once the two more soldiers began firing at it, the other three holding fire if the hybrid came out-or worse-it became too much for the butterfly to handle. As it dodged yet another bullet, it found itself in the trail of another one. It was struck through both of its wings, and its quick descent to the ground had started.

_No… _Vexx thought. _Just a little more…_

The butterfly was falling, though barely falling forwards, up to one of the guards. It was only a few more feet away.

_No! Please, just a bit further… please…_

It then fell on the ground, only two feet away from one of the armed men. The ground around where it landed started to become enveloped in a rapidly growing circle of purple energy.

The catsura's eyes opened up. _It'll have to do._

His second butterfly that remained with him began to create a purple circular pattern on the trunk of the tree, except this pattern was standing upright.

After pulling off a rather lengthy stick from the tree, which was roughly 1.5 feet, which in turn was almost half of Vexx's height, he walked into the pattern with it. What he made was a portal.

Meanwhile, the soldiers that were nearest to the somewhat large purple spot on the ground did not hesitate to take a few steps back. Still, their weapons remained ready.

"What is this?" one of the farther soldiers whispered.

In a matter of a second, the not-quite-three-feet high feline appeared, standing right on top of the portal, his furred arms oddly being held out. The guards knew who it was, however. As such, they all opened fire immediately where he stood.

Every single one of the bullets could be seen visibly slowing down as they headed for Vexx. They call came to a halt as they entered what looked like rather distorted fields being created.

The first soldier ran forward, trying to bash the hybrid with the stock of his assault rifle. With a flick of Vexx's paw however, one of the entrapped bullets went right for the soldier's knee. Unexpecting of this, it caught him by surprise, causing him to fall over. The other guards, realizing they could be outmatched, turned and ran for the building.

"No one's going to hurt whoever's inside." A few more flicks of his paws, bullets whizzed by in the same speed that they came from, penetrating both legs and feet of each of the guards. The rest of the bullets, Vexx dropped to the ground, letting go of them due to their new use being fulfilled. Every one of the six soldiers were left groaning on the ground. He then approached the first soldier, placing his paw on his head.

"No… no, no, no!" he cried, expecting his demise.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not going to kill you," Vexx reassured. "I just need you to not be so conscious right now."

"No, no, please!" He felt… something starting to surround his head. Through his eyes, all he could see was purple. The guard found himself dazed, confused, and then completely out cold, his mouth hanging open and his eyes widened.

Vexx placed his finger on the guard's eyelids and shut them, and then closing the man's mouth. "Someone will find you soon. Don't worry about the wounds, your tissue will be better and I ensured nothing will truly be permanently damaged." He stood up, looking at the other five, all of which were trying to crawl away. Their cries of terror rung with vigor in his ears, only to find themselves simply knocked unconscious as their legs and feet continued to bleed out.

Moments later, he rendered them all consciousless, walking further into the hangar as seven butterflies were released. Six of them went to each of the soldiers, and one went into a spot around the area of trees. There, the seventh butterfly made a portal exit, while the other six made portals as well, leading them all to the forested areas-while not too far in-where they could be fairly easily found once the creature that Vexx was looking for was making his way inside. By now, all of his portals were entirely gone.

_Entrance is all clear. Now to hope he finds his way here._ He took a moment to survey the area, trying to find any guards or any devices. The hybrid's eyes caught two cameras, which he destroyed similarly to how he destroyed the turret and its panel-opening mechanism. With the area seemingly cleared, he approached a large metal door, checking to see if it was locked. It was not, and it readily yielded to him pushing it forward. He only saw two things of note: Stairs, and multiple tall shadows climbing them.

Quickly and quietly, he closed the door back and returned to the hangar door in a scurry, bobbing himself out of sight until he made it outside. After a few moments had passed, he peaked to see what had changed inside. He saw 10 of them in there, talking. Vexx started listening in.

"Corporal Bay, you will be stay here and remain watchful along with the eight others here." It was a familiar voice. It was Adam's voice. "You will be commanding all of these privates to keep this area secure. The so-called 'Auros' is likely to find his way through here. I do not want him to escape." His head turned to look at the hangar entrance. "Where are the others? I had six more guarding the exit."

The sound of someone quickly pushing a door open could be heard. All heads turned in the direction.

"Sir!" he shouted as he ran toward Adams, panting. "Sir, I… I've been watching the cameras!"

"What is it, Crews?"

Peter fully caught his breath. "The cat! He's here! I saw him as he blew up the cameras!" He pointed at the corners in the ceiling. "Look!"

Taylor, Adams, and the other troops looked at where he pointed.

"Dammit," Adams murmured. He briefly eyed Peter and another soldier. "I need you two patrolling the farthest parts of the hangar. Do _not_ let _anyone _in or out of Astrias Industries. Orders are mutual to the rest of you."

Peter, rather panicked because he had no expectation of the place actually being under a situation like this, was very much unsure of what he was going to do once the Riolu came. He looked at Taylor, who nodded at him calmly. Nodding back and giving Adams a "yes sir," he walked toward one of the walls of the hangar.

_New information: The escapist is a "Riolu" male-supposedly-named Auros. Black and white body colors. This place is Astrias Industries, the same place where I was hearing about a hostile takeover. Alertness is high because they're aware of my presence. Auros is likely to be escaping through here, and they know it too. I may have made the situation both easier and harder for him. But then again… they likely have more security downstairs, which he may have done away with or evaded already. Hopefully he'll find his way through this as well, especially after I've made it easier for him._ Vexx then peeked in for a brief moment once more, then moved his head out of the way. _Too many in too many directions; I might not be able to pacify them all without some getting away. The more they know about me, the worse things will be for Auros and I._ His mind now made up, Vexx used his mesmeric abilities to render himself invisible as he sprinted his way back into the forest. _At the very least, if something goes wrong, I can be ready to help him from the very edge of the line of trees that are here. _Vexx started to sit calmly, waiting for him.

After a shockingly few moments had passed, his ears perked up as he heard Adams shouting "There it is." Unsure if it was himself or Auros that was found, he poked his head out to see a black and white creature running into the forest. Moving from tree to tree, Vexx followed as stealthily and swiftly as he could. Because of whatever the "Riolu" had went through, it could only be assumed that he had so little respite from it all. If Vexx could provide it, he would indeed do it.

The hybrid watched as the loud weaponry fired more bullets into the forest, trying to eliminate the Riolu. _Grand,_ Vexx thought. _Not only is he in trouble, but now Adams calling him an "it" is throwing off my thinking. Now what-_ A sound interrupted him. A very harsh one, an unpleasant one. It sounded like something striking into flesh. It threw him off, almost making him lose his balance as he was about to jump to another tree branch. He looked around, seeing the pursuers still keeping up the chase. _Auros, no…_

As he watched the Riolu who tried to turn himself to move in a different direction, Vexx could see blood pouring from his small body, even seeing the revolting hole that went through his back. After the creature turned, he saw a hole through his stomach as well. With horror, Vexx caught up to one of the trees closest to him, observing as the Riolu was placing his paw against the front hole that was left in his body, trying everything he could to just make this macabre moment end somehow.

While he felt tears begin to amass at his eyes, Vexx grabbed a few large, thick leaves off of the trees, then leaping down next to the Riolu, who was gradually fading, life leaving what was about to become a corpse. He placed three of the leaves on his back, then slowly picked him up while Vexx put three more on his stomach. Holding him carefully, the hybrid began to walk away. Far, far away from Astrias Industries. "I won't let this happen to you, Auros-if that's what your name is," he whispered to him, countless tears running down his furred cheeks, becoming wet almost instantly. With a sniff and a hopeful kiss on the top of the Riolu's head, he then said, "One day, we might make them regret ever doing this to you and whatever other horrific things that have occurred here." The catsura's tears started landing on Auros' face. "I don't want this to happen ever again. I swear it…"

**XXX**

_Meanwhile..._

**XXX**

"Peter, are you okay?" Taylor repeatedly slapped her buddy's face, somewhat softly. "Peter... I told you you shouldn't enlist..."

"Corporal Bay?" Adams approached them. "Why is Private Crews on the ground? What did Auros do to him?"

"I don't know, sir." She then stood back up to face her superior. "I just saw him here, with a bit of spit near him."

The officer sighed, leaning on the wall. "Whatever it was, we'll find out and he'll get better. That cat...sura must be apprehended, and the Auros specimen must be apprehended or eliminated."

"We'll find them, sir," she responded.

"I would hope so. Whatever that other one is, may or may not prove to be a valuable asset to us as well. If you find him, try to bring him alive. For now though, I think we've had enough excitement." He moved around Peter, not stepping on or over him, but around. "Please quickly take him to the medical room. I'll be assessing the damage Auros caused down below."

"Yes sir," Taylor picked Peter up, then walked toward the door to the stairway.


	3. Revelations

**XXX**

**Another chapter! **Sorry for the long delay on this one. With the release of the new Starbound stable update, as well as a few super long Civilization IV games later, we often went quite a few days without even touching this story. But pushing forward has finally lent us the next chapter in the trilogy.

Finally giving proper credit to reviewers down below.

**XXX**

Revelations

**XXX**

The white and black Riolu opened his eyes, staring upwards. It was certainly a drastic change from his previous environment… he tried his hardest to remember what happened last.

_I.. I escaped that complex.. then what?_

As he looked down, he rubbed his paw over his stomach, feeling no pain and seeing no wounds. He knew he had been wounded.. somehow, but now they seemed to have disappeared. Every memory was fuzzy within his mind, and it was only being compounded by the fact that he seemed to be in perspectiveless environment. It was pure white in every direction, and the only perception that there was a floor, was that he was laying on _something._

_I had escaped.. but I had been shot at the last moment. Did I succumb to my wounds?_

His thoughts grew more and more complex, trying to imagine the different scenarios that could have resulted in him ending up in the strange area he was in now.

Not willing to wait any longer, the Riolu hastily stood up and staggered on his feet for a few moments, attempting to regain his balance. After a quick tap of the ground with his white tail, he set off in a random direction, hoping to find some conclusion to his life.

It did not take long for him to _sense _the presence of another powerful being. It approached from directly behind him, and the Riolu turned around in an attempt to see it. The fog proved to be too dense for him to see any farther than ten feet, so he held his position. Eventually, he began to hear powerful footsteps, getting closer and closer. Despite everything that he had been through, he still felt nervous.

A massive creature emerged from the mist, the wisps clearing away rather quickly. It was several times larger than the Riolu himself. It came to a halt a short distance away, kneeling down so that it was face-to-face with the smaller Pokémon.

"_Hello," _it spoke bluntly, its deep voice powerful to the Riolu's ears. He took a few steps back.

"Who are you?" He was surprised by his own voice - he hadn't used it before, and it sounded rather high-pitched and childish - a wild contrast to the booming voice of the larger Pokémon. "Why am I here?"

"_Relax. I brought you here after your… unfortunate demise from your escape at Astrias Industries. I am Arceus, the god of all Pokémon. You are in the Continuum, a pocket dimension where the legendary Pokémon reside."_

"Astrias Industries?" the Riolu queried. Everything suddenly seemed very confusing - his "demise" would imply that he died, yet… something still seemed odd.

"_Indeed, you did die," _Arceus murmured in a way that attempted to be as comforting as possible, despite the circumstances. The Riolu tilted his head, confused. _Did it just read my mind?_

Arceus pressed onwards regardless, giving no indication that it had done so. "_There was nothing any mortal being could have done to save you.. your wounds were far too great to have been healed. When you were shot by the personnel of that complex, they had destroyed several vital organs, leaving you essentially crippled. Now… I must tell you something that may.. not sit too well with you."_

The Riolu nodded his head, his green eyes remaining unwavering, as if he was telling Arceus to continue.

"_You are… obviously abnormal. Your memories probably only take you as far back as escaping that strange chamber, correct?" _Arceus paused for a few moments, and the Riolu hesitantly nodded. "_That was a cloning chamber. Your DNA was mutated, resulting in your different features and traits; the majority of which are distinctive to you, and to you only. A few of the traits have made you weaker in some area… but.." _The larger Pokémon trailed off, trying its best to word it in such a way that would be easy to understand for young Riolu.

"_Well.. you are more powerful in other areas… extraordinarily more powerful. Primarily, in mental abilities and your ability to control aura. All things you will come to learn by yourself. It is my duty to make sure that you recognize these powers and utilize them efficiently and properly, because they will be needed very soon. I can not tell you much more than this."_

Unexpectedly, the Riolu nodded, seeming to understand the concept very quickly. "Very well.. I suppose I can't do much about this position myself. However.. if I died, as you have stated.." he trailed off, not sure how to finish that. Thankfully, Arceus merely smiled and took a few steps back.

"_Your benefactor will see to that. You may cause some… grief, due to your death. I can not resurrect you immediately, unfortunately. It will take some time, since it is a process that I do so rarely. It may take an hour or so in the real world after you have died. Good luck."_

Questions swam through the Riolu's head, but he felt humbled regardless to have been resurrected. Evidently, something that was done rarely - and he had been chosen. Therefore, he simply bowed as Arceus disappeared back into the mist. He smiled himself.. despite not knowing why.

Even as he fell in the void below, a faint smile remained on his face, and his green eyes gleamed of prospect.

**XXX**

_Somewhere in Sinnoh, some distance away from the complex..._

**XXX**

Vexx's eyes started to open up. He saw the familiar sight of trees everywhere, but it felt... oddly different. As his walking came to a stop, he remembered the Riolu that he was carrying. "Huh...?" It occurred to him that his head was hanging low, something happened. Looking around, seeing Astrias Industries seemingly forever away, he realized that a strong feeling of gloom practically consumed him, at least momentarily... although for a "moment", it was rather long.

He wanted to keep walking, but he felt it necessary to at least check Auros first. Though everything seemed so fatal, the last thing he wanted was to see him perish from such mortal wounds. Kneeling on the ground, the Riolu's back resting on his knees, Vexx placed his paw on his chest, checking for a pulse, anything. Anything that could signify he was alive, anything that could tell him he had not failed in what he was sent to do. Anything that could show he had at least done something right. The last thing he wanted to do was completely screw something up. The beginning of his life was full of enough of that. Anything to show at least something good came out of this bloodshed.

Anything.

Anything...

"..." Vexx was silent. He felt no pulse. "Auros... why..." The hybrid's eyes, he felt them beginning to quiver, but something was different this time, something was wrong. No tears fell this time. It was clear to him that he was in such a gloomy trance that he cried all of the way here, practically lost in his mind, as silent as it was. Lifting his paw off of the Auros' chest, he simply looked at the Riolu in his closed eyes. "I... I failed...?" Vexx's own eyes began to close. "What did I do wrong...?"

All he felt he could do was sit there, quietly, sorrowfully. Barely, did Vexx move. He felt as if his ability to speak was leaving him, when really it was only a lack of anything to say. The best Vexx was able to do was mourn in silence.

Once a rough 10 minutes had gone by, what felt to him like an eternity of sadness, he stood back up. He felt himself close to falling into his "trance" once more, but instead he resumed his walk. However, it only took a few minutes of walking for him to realize that exhaustion was already here, and he had been disregarding it for this long, putting the now deceased Riolu ahead of everything else.

With a sigh, he reluctantly stopped again. There were so many things he felt right now, two out of the many of those things being "nothing" and "everything". The Riolu still secure in his grasp, he reached out his paw to force it against the trunk of a tree. Aided by mesmeric power, the short tree was quickly cut at the base. It was still secure where it was however, because it was a very precise slice. With contact still being made with it, he sliced it again vertically, and horizontally in a few places, several times. It all began to crumble and fall, now in the form of a bunch of wooden logs, magically cut into sixths and separated height-wise by about two feet. The logs landed all around Vexx and Auros, but the falling pile only nudged the hybrid's legs.

With still no further words from neither mouth nor mind, the catsura then placed the Riolu within his arms at the base of a different tree, positioning him where he was sitting. That now out of the way, he arranged the fire wood in two piles: one for the campfire, and one-a very large one, at that-for keeping the fire going for as long as needed. Then once he finished, he looked at the campfire pile, staring blankly at it. Realizing his energy was seemingly disappearing from him, as if he were holding onto water with his bare paw only to have it seep through every opening in his fingers, he simply summoned a clone of himself to assist him the rest of the way.

The only thing that remained for now was to build the fire. As such, the clone walked off to collect things that easily caught fire: some bark from the sliced tree, dry grass, anything. Once it returned, the clone then began preparing the spot for the fire. After digging a circular hole that was several inches deep and just wide enough in diameter, it placed the kindling layer inside of the fire pit, followed by the tinder layer. Its job was done, and now all it needed was ignition.

The duplicate dissipated, Vexx now using more of his energy to create a purplish ring above the fire. The ring started to position itself where it was facing toward the sun, aiming the other side of it towards the center of the fire pit. As if it were done through magnification, sunlight shone through the ring, the light being amplified as it went in the direction of the pit. After holding it or a few minutes, the area began to spark. Letting go of the ring, allowing it to disappear, the hybrid got up to add more kindling to the fire pit, softly blowing into it to intensify the growing flames. Later, he picked up more kindling and tinder and arranged it all into a cone that surrounded the center. Slowly, the cone started to fall inwards, feeding the fire even more. Eventually, it grew immense enough where it was just right.

So far, an hour had already passed, and Vexx was incredibly tired. Too saddened for the feeling of hunger and too exhausted to carry on, he felt like he was about to fall over then and there. He grabbed Auros' corpse and continued to hold him in his arms, then returned to the fire pit where kneeled in front of it. His eyes were fixed on the twitching flames, staring blankly into them.

It was not often that he was this silent, even in his own thoughts.

**XXX**

_An unknown amount of time later..._

**XXX**

The Riolu slowly regained consciousness, the pain of his wounds once again registering in his mind. It was not nearly as significant as before he was teleported to the so-called "Continuum", yet his injuries still rendered him immobile for the moment. He breathed slowly and lightly, making very little noise. Anything more than that seemed too much for the young Pokémon.

Once his mental senses kicked in, he immediately knew that he was in the presence of another being. He wasn't sure who, but his two undeveloped aura receptors were picking up the emotions of someone nearby. He picked up mostly sadness from the entity, but also.. dullness, _emotional exhaustion._

The aura that was emanating from this creature almost made the Riolu sad himself. He was still in far too much pain to know where he was, or why he felt a strange heat nearby, but he was determined to remain strong. A few minutes passed before he made any attempt to regain control of his other senses.

The first thing he noticed was that the aura that he detected earlier was _much _closer than he initially suspected. Rather, he was being held by this entity. Quickly scanning its aura once again, he figured that it was friendly enough and was now curious as to how the circumstances could have led to this. He cracked open one of his eyes, attempting to see what the creature was, but the sudden intake of light on his weak body sent another surge of pain through him, and he took a sharp intake of breath.

The ears that belonged to the creature immediately flinched. Its eyes widened the moment it heard and felt the movement that was within the anomalous being's grasp. The eyes rolled downwards, its head catching up quite quickly. "Auros..." it said, its voice sounding rather feminine. The amethyst eyes started to shimmer once more. "Y-you're... alive?"

The Riolu merely groaned, unable to speak coherently due to the pain he was in. He was confused; Arceus had resurrected him, yet he still felt such extreme pain that he was positive that he would pass out any minute.

His eye remained halfway open, staring upwards at the creature who had spoken to him so softly. He couldn't help but to wonder if he had been hallucinating or not… the creature had called him "Auros", a name that he was not familiar with.

"I thought I checked your pulse," it said. "You didn't have one." It put its paw over the three large leaves on Auros' stomach. "I swear, I thought the guards at Astrias Industries had..." Softly, it shook its head, seemingly thinking it was best to forget what happened before for a moment. "N... never mind that for now." Tears began to run down its eyes.

After letting out a sigh, it continued. "You wouldn't believe how much you went through, I wouldn't be surprised if you barely remember it all right now." It started to move slightly, as if changing its position to sit down rather than kneel. "Fortunately I think I managed to put an end to a bit of your bleeding, so that phase will take time, but..." Its head tilted a bit. "I hope you'll manage to recover soon, Auros. If... that's your name, of course. I overheard personnel referring to you as such." Its paw that was on Auros' stomach moved back down to hold him from below, its other paw lightly rubbing the Pokémon's head. "I suppose once you're actually fully aware, I could introduce myself. Right now though, I don't think you can very well understand most of what I say."

The Riolu didn't hear much more than a mixture of words and phrases. The creature still seemed adamant that he was named "Auros", and that from what he picked out, it did not intend to hurt him. He tried to recall his conversation with Arceus..

_Arceus mentioned something… something about a benefactor… _Unable to come to any conclusions, he pushed aside the thoughts. He desperately wanted to talk to whoever was holding him, as its voice calmed him down immensely, to the point of being extraordinarily tired. He figured that his wounds would heal themselves soon enough, and sleep would be the best remedy at the moment. His eye closed, and he was quickly whisked away into a dreamless sleep, his breathing becoming light and rhythmic.

**XXX**

_The next morning..._

**XXX**

A pair of green eyes stared at the creature sleeping next to him, scanning it for detail. The Riolu had very little memory of waking up the night before, except that it _had _happened. He recalled that it had spoken to him, but he could not remember a single thing it had said. Regardless, he knew that it was friendly, and he decided that he would not just leave.

The pain had subsided substantially overnight; the remaining being a small aching in his stomach. He ignored it and got to his feet, feeling that the majority of his energy had surged back into him. He took a few deep breaths.

"Alright…" he muttered quietly, attempting not to wake the creature. "Mouth works…" He stretched out a few of his limbs, testing them, before running a few laps around the smoldering fire that was nearby. "Not bad… I guess Arceus did fix the damage."

A new sensation became prevalent in his stomach: hunger. He had no vivid memory of ever seeing food or eating it, but he knew what to search for and where to find it.

_It's so strange. I don't remember a single thing before the first moments I woke up in that.. cloning chamber. Yet… I somehow know how to do everything, as if I had been alive for far longer than that._

He knew that his natural instincts would lead him to berries, so he let his senses take over and he trailed away from the campsite in search of food. His muzzle twitched, and his ears listened for any other Pokémon that could be on the prowl.

Only a few minutes passed until he detected the scent of an Oran Berry, which he knew were used primarily to heal wounds and replenish the energy of any Pokémon. It was also a rather tasty dish; which, only served to confuse the Riolu even more, as he had not tasted one before.

"Hopefully that.. the creature.. whatever its name is… will enjoy this. Probably as hungry as I am," the Riolu mumbled to himself, plucking a few of the blue fruit off the branches of a bush. He struggled to carry any more than three, and after wasting another two by accidentally dropping them on the ground, he gave up and began to return to the camp.

_I do wonder if they were a female or a male. Their voice.. if I even can remember correctly.. seemed to indicate female, yet… it seems wrong to make that assumption._ His thoughts grew more complex, confusing even himself as he knew that he had not experienced ethical or moral lessons such as this in his life before. Eventually, he just shook them away and blanked out his mind, focusing on not letting another Oran Berry drop.

Finally, he returned to the small clearing where the camp was, the fire still smoldering gently it and the creature that he had met still sleeping. He took a seat on the grassy forest floor, staring blankly at his berry. He didn't want to eat.. he wanted to talk to the creature that had seemingly saved his life.

"Mmph..." Its voice could be heard as its body slowly started to move. The furred creature's eyes slowly opened, the fire pit being the first thing that was noticed.

The Riolu looked up from his berry, hearing it wake up. A small smile formed on his face, but he resisted the urge to happily greet the creature, and instead waited on the ground patiently. He held the other two berries to give to it later.

Once the creature fully opened its eyes, the Riolu was clearly in its view. It was looking right at him. Smiling, it softly said to him, "Well it's good to see you still awake and your eyes opening last night not being a mirage."

It slowly pushed itself to cause the right side of its body to fall toward the direction of the fire pit, about to fall on its face, only to be caught by its right paw. Then it started to push itself back on its hindpaws, turning to briefly look at the Riolu again, smiling brightly. It soon after started to stretch its body.

"In any case, though!" it chimed. "Good morning, Auros! You've been a bit busy already, I see?"

The Riolu stared at the creature, unsure of what to say. Once again, it had referred to him as "Auros", like the previous two times the night before.

"Good morning.." he muttered, his excitement draining away quickly and being replaced by shyness. "Y-you've referred to me as 'Auros' several times now… why?"

"Oh, r… right," it said, rubbing its head a little. "It… was said once when I was trying to assist you with your escape from Astrias Industries. Under the context I heard, it sounded like that was your name. Along with that I heard of your physical details, specifically your black and white fur, gender, and so on. Obviously, you certainly fit the descriptions I overheard." It smirked. "I don't know what your actual name is, however. I've, again, only heard 'Auros' as if it were your name. Without any other name to work with, I simply… went with it until I knew for sure."

The Riolu paused for a few moments, searching his mind desperately. _My name.. my name.. what is my name? _He recalled the previous events, but nothing seemed to indicate that he had ever been given one. Sighing in defeat, his eyes saddened. "I.. I don't have a name. But.. Auros works for me. It.. it sounds nice." He paused for a few seconds, before smiling lightly. "Thank you."

The fellow smiled back. "You're very welcome!" It moved a little closer. "As for myself, my name is Vexx. I'm a catsura, a hybrid if you will. I actually came here because-" Its stomach rumbled and growled at it, interrupting what it was saying. "Well I didn't come here because of hunger. A friend called Arceus would have a... unique sense of being helpful if that were the case, hehe," it giggled a bit. "'Let's bring Vexx from Tyria to here to satisfy his hunger.' Of course not, it's for substantially more immense sizes of reasoning." It shook its head, then looked at the fruit in Auros' paws. Vexx noticed this since it started getting up, but refrained from mentioning it originally. "May I?" it asked.

Auros glanced down at the two pieces of fruit that he was sitting next to, evidently forgetting about them. "S-sure.." He held one out for Vexx to take. The catsura had mentioned "Arceus", which was certainly a surprise, considering that the god Pokémon now appeared to be some sort of mutual friend. He did take several mental notes, though - one of which was that Vexx was a male, going against his initial assumptions.

"D-do-" Auros stuttered again and growled lowly under his breath, frustrated at his own shyness. "You know Arceus too?" he asked quietly after a few moments, staring into Vexx's eyes expectantly.

"Mhmm, it's because of him that you're here right now," Vexx replied, taking the offered berry. "Thank you. But yes, I do. He brought me here, because of what I can do, to help you, because of what you can do." Despite how much he wanted to eat it all straight away, he only took a small bite from it to chew on, in case Auros had more to ask. That way, he would not keep him waiting for too long.

Auros briefly recalled Arceus mentioning how he had mental abilities that were supposedly above the average. He fidgeted with his paws for a few moments, watching Vexx slowly eat the fruit.

"_Your benefactor will see to that."_

Arceus' words echoed in his mind for a few moments, and his mouth opened slightly, coming to several realizations at once. "You're my benefactor?" he asked excitedly, his eyes widening a little and his ears perking up. "Arceus told me that you would help me… suddenly it makes sense."

"Is that what my title is now?" he said after he finished the bite of the fruit that he took. Shrugging a little, Vexx then continued to say, "Considering the circumstances, I guess it'd appear to be so." He then resumed taking another small bite of the sweet, invigorating berry while he saw how much the RIolu's attention had been piqued.

"Ah.." Somewhat embarrassed by his excited response, he distracted himself by taking a large bite out of his berry, in contrast to the small ones Vexx had been taking. After his mouth was clear, he continued.

"Well.. Arceus told me that someone would be my benefactor, and would.. help me, I suppose. You seem nice enough… and you are the only one who hasn't tried to kill me yet." He took another bite, gazing off into the forest happily, apparently unaffected by the morbid reality of his own words.

"'Seem nice enough?'" The catsura giggled. "You haven't tried talking to those people when they're _not_ trying to kill you. Excluding Arceus, you're the second... 'set' of faces I've seen from this world that's actually _nice_." The berry was moved in front of his mouth, about to bite into it once more. "Clearing the way for you was evidently quite a good choice. Not that I thought it wouldn't have been. After all, it's nice being able to save good people for once." He then took another bite, a bit larger than the last ones.

Auros stared at his berry, his gaze completely expressionless. He set it down to the side, looking at Vexx. "I.. why are you here? I wasn't going to live.. yet, you came seemingly out of nowhere and saved me. Why did Arceus send you?"

"Mm..." the hybrid briefly droned to himself, lowering the fruit from his mouth. "From what Arceus told me, an unknown 'force' has been at work in this universe. It wants to use the Continuum as a bridge to transport itself to other dimensions. You and I were chosen because of the specialties we have. While he would choose less... mortal people, everyone he has already is hard at work trying to defeat, or at least stall whatever this force is. Aaand as for me, I'm here to help you grow without people like Astrias personnel interfering."

"It seems… powerful. I don't see how I could possibly defeat something like _that_.. something that not even Arceus' people can defeat." A few moments passed, and Auros glared at the fire smoldering away, barely a few embers now. He shivered and rubbed his arms, his ear twitching. "Anyways.. what would I even do first, if I was _somehow _powerful enough to defeat this force? There's places to travel… or perhaps fighting lessons?" he questioned, glancing at a few mountain peaks visible through the leaves of the trees. He sighed and shook his head, finally choosing to just look down at his feet, somewhat overwhelmed.

Vexx lightly shrugged. "I haven't been in your world for too long, so I'm not sure what options would best benefit Pokémon such as you. Though practice in fighting may be helpful to allow you to get more... adjusted, if you're not there already. Whether it's with me or other Pokémon." His head slowly looked in a few directions. "But that can't be what we do the whole time, obviously. If we find... cities, perhaps, we might be able to find out what more we can do for you." He gave the berry a gentle toss within his paw, catching it quickly after. "Sound suitable?" he chimed.

"A city..?" Auros asked, with a bit of fright in his voice. His memory, of course, did not recall any occurrences of him in the city, yet he still knew what it was…

_A question I still need to answer. _Auros looked at Vexx, his white fur bristling in several spots. "I.. haven't… _been _to one.. I think. The prospect of it frightens me though.. aren't there a lot of humans there? They may be hostile like the ones at Astrias Industries… if we do go, we should probably be vigilant." He gave a quick spin, his green eyes rapidly scanning the area around him. "Not to mention.." he continued, wrinkling his muzzle. "..we have pretty much no idea where we are. At least.. I don't."

The hybrid's finger pointed in a direction where he had seen tall structures before. It was the opposite direction that the sun was rising. "Yesterday I noticed what looked like city structures when I was analyzing the surrounding areas. It's likely we may find something there." Judging from his tone, he did not seem worried about possible hostilities. "Regardless, should something come, it will be dealt with in one fashion or another." His eyes focused heavily on Auros. "I'm not one for losing friends."

The Emanation Pokémon paused for a few seconds, apparently musing. "Friends..? I don't know why, but I don't think I would be affected that much if I lost one… yet, I've only been alive for.. a day or two now? I don't know.." He breathed out, looking back down at his feet. "Nevermind that. Don't worry, it disturbs me as much as it probably disturbs you." Auros turned to the direction that Vexx pointed, squinting as if he could see them from there.

"I feel ready to move, anyways. How about you? I'm guessing it would be a.. fairly long trip, but I'm sure I could handle it." Auros smiled, looking at Vexx.

The catsura looked around again. "If you're certain, then we'll likely need something for carrying any sustenance with us. Yet I can't seem to find anything for such a purpose. Who knows if we'll need more berries?" Not even a moment later, his eyes had begun to stare at his shirt. The look in his eyes was mildly bothered. "Oh no, I don't have to use this I hope..."

Auros stifled a chuckle. "You brought it up.. I can't carry more than two at a time, and I think there won't be any more Oran Berries for quite a while from here.." Despite the fact that he actually didn't know if this was true or not, he figured that both of them could use a bit of humor to lighten the mood. After all, they were both just given a task of _extreme _proportions.

Quietly, Vexx buried his face in the only free paw he had. Letting out an annoyed sigh, he momentarily handed the berry he was eating to the Riolu. His paws now free, Vexx then lifted his shirt from his torso until it was entirely off of his body. With his russet and gray chest now bare, he held the piece of clothing, looking at it, thinking of the best way to use it for carrying. Once a moment of pondering had passed, he looked at the Riolu. "Would you please lead me to where you've obtained the blue fruit?" He then extended his paw, the same one that previously held the berry. "And please hand it back to me. I'm... still in need of food, hehe," he giggled.

Auros placed the berry gently in Vexx's paw and turned in the direction of where he went to get the berries. "It's this way. There was a lot of them, but they can be difficult to get. The bushes pricked me a few times when I was only trying to get two.." Momentarily, he stretched his legs as far as they would go, before padding towards the berries, trusting that Vexx would follow.

After following the Pokémon to the bushes of fruit, the catsura stared at them. Neatly placing his shirt down, he said, "Hmm, I'd rather preserve my energy for protecting you from other dangers, so I suppose the normal way will have to do." Leaning forwards, extending his arm, only to almost step on one of two berries that had evidently fallen from them. Readjusting himself to not squish them underneath his hindpaw, his arm reached further inwards to carefully try to grab one of them.

Twisting and turning it until it was free, he retracted his arm, only to find his the spines of the plant latching to his fur. Delicately, he tried to pull them from his arm, but after a bit of pain created from pulling them off, some of the gray fur on his arm was now claimed by the one of many thorns inside.

"Ow..." he said as he pulled the berry out. "Sneaky, indeed." Putting it on top of the amethyst and yellow shirt, he looked around. He quickly walked off to grab two sticks both roughly eight inches long. Carrying them with one stick per paw, he approached the bush again, then pushed the sticks inside to manipulate the bush where a berry could be easily plucked, with little consequence. "This should be a better method that won't result in us making our fur so uneven on our bodies. Auros, please grab this one," he requested, nodding his head at the exposed fruit.

Auros extended his paw, carefully maneuvering through the safe gap that Vexx had made. He took the fruit carefully, trying not to squish it in the process. "This is fairly effective. I hadn't even thought of this when I was trying to get the fruit." He smiled, looking down at the berry.

Shifting left, he saw a few more berries, and they repeated the procedure several more times, filling the shirt to its capacity. "Hopefully they won't bleed through the shirt. If we can keep them relatively cool, then it should be fine. I'd imagine that if we were to travel in the shade for the majority of the trip, we should not have much to worry about," he muttered, squinting his eyes in an attempt to find a relatively clear path. "Unfortunately… you'll have to be careful when carrying it through. A lot of undergrowth for it to catch on. We wouldn't want to get far from these bushes, only for the whole shirt to rip open and all the berries falling out wasted, heh."

"Agreed," Vexx responded, carefully picking up the shirt and trying to close up the openings a bit, then holding the little bundle from the bottom. If anything were to happen to it, they would be less inclined to spill from the bottom, meaning more would at least be potentially saved. "III think enough pain was endured from this bush anyway. So that said, are you ready to begin our little trek?"

"I am," Auros simply said, looking up and smiling at Vexx. He stared ahead, the thick undergrowth limiting their field of vision to only a few meters. "They might have sent search parties for us, though, since I think we might be serious targets to those people. We might want to put more distance between us and them, since I can't imagine that the whole route to the city would be completely forest."

The hybrid began to walk forward. "I'm unsure of what they could use to try and follow us wherever we go, if such a thing is within their grasp by now. Plus, if we're fortunate enough, they didn't even notice the smoke coming from the campfire." His shoulders raised to lightly shrug.

"Oh right.. that's a good point. Hopefully they didn't. Regardless.. we should probably get a move on, just in case." The wind picked up, the trees starting to sway and the forest filling with the noise of millions of leaves fluttering gently. Auros blinked a few times, his eyes suddenly dry.

"I'll lead the way, I suppose," Auros muttered, rubbing his paws together. He parted the bushes and started to walk in the direction of the city, with Vexx following close behind.

**XXX**

The white Aura Pokémon scanned the environment in front of him, a thinning forested area where there were minor signs of human activities. Scattered litter, small wooden cabins, and other various things were placed around the area, like jumbled pieces to a puzzle. Auros silently gestured behind himself, trying to beckon the hybrid behind him to come closer.

Vexx slowed down, then shifted himself very closely behind the Riolu. The catsura scanned the area in front of him as well. "Housing within the forest, I'm guessing," he whispered. "Or rather, hoping." His head turned to look at Auros. "We should probably circle around until we reach the actual city. More eyes seeing us reduces the likelihood of unwanted people trying anything. Although more eyes on us also means more eyes on someone unusual like me." Being new to this world, Vexx still did not know the difference between an average Riolu and Auros.

Auros nodded, but then stopped and looked at Vexx. "I.. I'm not sure how I know this, but we can't just circle around. This goes around the whole city… we have to get past this area, or an area like it, no matter what." He mused for a few seconds, before shaking his head and sighing. "Again.. I don't have an idea of how I know that. But I'm as unusual as you are, so we should both be extra careful here. It looks mostly abandoned, at least, except for a few wild Pokémon.." He trailed off, staring at a nearby wooden shack. _Something_ about it was catching Auros' attention, and he wasn't sure what.

"Very well Auros, I trust you!" he chimed, his volume still kept at a minimal level. "Do you know how far forward we'll need to go before we've successfully bypassed what lies here?" His head turned to look forward once more, double-checking the surroundings. "I can render us invisible should it become a necessity, but we will likely still remain detectable through energy-reading means."

The Aura Pokémon fell silent for a few moments, examining the wooden shack intensely. Finally, he sighed. "That might be a good idea. I don't think they have the capabilities to detect us through energy.. I hope not, at the very least." At this point, the ominous feeling that he was receiving from the wooden shack was enough to make him shudder.

"First, however, we need to investigate that wooden shack over there." He pointed his paw at it, looking at Vexx. "Something is completely off about it, and I'm not sure what."

"Let us inspect, then." The catsura gestured to the shack. "We might locate an energy sensor of some description, allowing us to assess our little situation more effectively!"

"Perhaps…" Auros took a few steps out into the open, scanning the area hastily with his aura. Detecting no emotions in the immediately vicinity, he dashed for a tree and clung to it, the bark scraping against his fur. Despite the pain, he was hidden well from any potential onlookers. He looked back towards Vexx and gestured for the catsura to follow, after completing another check of the surrounding area.

Since it was mostly grass and dusty forest floor, he didn't have to look hard to see their first problem. A Houndour was trotting along one of the dirt paths, experimentally sniffing at several fallen berries and items of undergrowth. If he even moved an inch, the wild Pokémon would probably detect him in an instant. Thankfully, the vegetation was probably masking his scent, for the time being… he could only hope that Vexx noticed it too.

Seeing the signal he was given, the hybrid followed the Riolu to the same tree that the Pokémon had reached. He carefully and also quickly tried to catch up, keeping the fruit within his shirt as safe as can be. However, upon hearing the sound of the approaching Houndour, Vexx quickly hid behind a tree nearest to him that blocked any sight between himself and the Pokémon that was approaching. With a quiet sigh, he was taking a brief moment to thank that he had such sharp hearing. Otherwise, he would not have heard the footsteps.

Still trying to keep himself as obscure from the Houndour as possible, he looked over at Auros. Any further attempt to move forward would have Vexx and thus the Riolu detected, and he was fully aware of this. In addition, keeping his energy in reserve seemed likely the best choice of action. As such, he did not try to mesmerically cloak himself. After all, he was not sure if the Houndour would see through the invisibility. In fact, he was not sure what type of name its species went by.

Auros' eyes fixated on the dark / fire type Pokémon, as it came far too close for comfort for him. It stopped momentarily, appearing to have caught a whiff of a strange scent, but ignored it and moved on. He looked over at Vexx, who was looking back at him, and his mouth slightly quivered in relief. The Houndour soon disappeared into the brush, and Auros fell from the tree breathing heavily, having not realized he was holding his breath the entire time.

Once he recovered, he gestured for the catsura to follow once more, and he moved to another tree, approaching the wooden shack. The strange feeling he was getting some distance away was now more present than ever, confirming his initial suspicions that the culprit was, indeed, the small dwelling. It took all of his restraint power to avoid sprinting right for it in curiosity, as he was still unsure if there were more Pokémon in the area.

"Did you find any further details on what you're feeling?" Vexx asked once he caught up to the Riolu, now standing right behind him.

"I have not.. other than the feeling is more powerful than before." Shaking his head, Auros took a few more steps towards the wooden shack, before stopping in his tracks. A _rancid _scent suddenly overpowered his nose. He flinched and instinctively gagged on the smell, and then proceeding to take a few steps back.

"I don't even _know _what that smell is, but it is _absolutely _terrible. I don't know how I didn't detect it further away, either…" He stared at the small shack, not sure how it could be putting out such a horrendous stench.

"I hope you're not planning to faint," Vexx tunefully teased.

Ignoring the teasing for a moment, Auros braced himself and approached the wooden shack, the smell overpowering every single sense. His eyes began to water, and he shook his head in distress. _What could that be?_

Placing a paw on the handle, he shakily pulled open the door with some added effort, dust and mold having accumulated there from years of neglect. He looked inside, his green eyes hastily scanning for the source.

"Well..."

It would be the last thing he would say or see for the moment, as what he saw actually _did _make him fall unconscious.

**XXX**

All of them human, and all of them dead. Throughout the entire shack, it was littered across what may as well have been every surface. It looked to be an approximate of 50 human bodies. Rotting, decaying, their foul and putrid scent so strong and disgusting that one would feel as if the smell itself was milking their body for tears. It even made it a horrible experience to try and figure out which was more vomit-inducing: The disgusting fetor, or the look of the corpses themselves?

Some were rotting to the point that seeing the very bones was far too easy. They were as horrifyingly discolored as the skin. It did not end there, however. Some of the other bodies had an appearance of being simply brutally mutilated. Seemingly bloodless flesh and organs ripped from some of these bodies, some of them even sliced themselves. Stomachs, intestines, livers-everything looked torn off with the fiercest force imaginable. Had this happened to every single body that was in this shack, it would have been enough to spread across every surface in the building and cover a good chunk of the surrounding ground on the outside.

It was a macabre, nightmarish mess. It was unimaginable to be there, watching as some of them simply had their arms, legs, hands, feet, heads, anything chopped off, whether it was clean or unclean. It was even more unimaginable to be there to see bowels ripped from such harsh eviscerations. Even going so far as to ruin them, seemingly stomping or slicing them to pieces.

Were they all alive when this happened to them? Were their deaths this graphic? Who would do things such as empty out their bodies of their own organs before their very eyes? That is, if such even happened.

"..."

A multitude of questions were close to paralyzing Vexx's mind, but he was not able to find anything even slightly close to a so-called "answer". And he was well aware of that, too.

He looked into the memory-scarring, corpse-containing shack, unable to keep his eyes away at the horror that laid inside. "I've seen so much, but I've never seen this," he whispered quietly to himself. The horrific scents were already getting near him, because the opening of that door meant one less thing containing the foul odor. Still, trying his hardest to keep himself from breathing for as long as he can muster, he carefully walked over to the fainted Pokémon, picking him up once more. _Carrying you again, I see_, he thought, trying to bring his mind away from what was in front of him. It was not out of mere criticism, it was simply another moment of them together that he had noted.

He tried to move away as quickly as he could, trying to keep an eye out for any further visits, whether it be from that strange creature, humans blaming him and Auros for what was in the shack, or whatever else could make this escalate negatively. "We've had enough of this for now," he whispered now that he was a bit farther away from such revolting scenery. "It's time we focus on the task at hand now before we uncover more vile things."

**XXX**

As you can see, we're going to try and live up to the "M" rating that was put on the story.

Since I will not be doing review responses in the chapters anymore, I think the least I can do is thank the people who _have _reviewed so far.

Thanks to **black snakes,** **timitin147 and GameManiac **for their continued support.

**XXX**


	4. Finding a Lost Cause

**XXX**

Trying to keep up with the pace we've set for ourselves here, we present Chapter III, the first chapter that isn't only one word long. Hooray!

I hope that this chapter is fairly intense. It's slightly shorter than normal.

**XXX**

**Finding a Lost Cause**

**XXX**

"Corporal," Randy spoke up. "You know that once we actually find those two, they're gonna be inclined to knock us out and we'd be right back at square one, right? How do you think we're going to try and get them both?"

Corporal Taylor turned her head toward the infirmary door. She had been oblivious as to how Peter was doing after his little run-in with the Riolu "clone". After taking a brief sip of her water bottle, Taylor turned to look at Randy to say, "I don't know." Her head turned forward, looking down at the open rim of the beverage container. It was cool to the touch. "We'd need a really good plan. After analyzing the damage, the brown and gray one was able to completely destroy our equipment by holding his hands at them. Auros can damage people internally, it seems. Though physical contact is needed first."

"So he probably has special aura powers outside of what was expected with the tests. The other one sort of just knocked everyone unconscious, yet destroyed the hangar turret and the cameras inside. So maybe he can cause actual harm to anything inorganic, but anything organic he just KOs without anything actually permanent?"

"I doubt that. Maybe he just doesn't kill by choice." Taylor took another sip. "All the hangar guards? He knocked every single one of them out. The most they remember now is just seeing purple flashing in their eyes, which isn't helpful."

"Did he delete their memories, too? That'd be something."

"Well, no. One of them did remember something about him using butterflies to attack too."

"Uh..."

"I don't know. I would say, 'The sooner we capture him, the more we'll know,' but the fact we don't know what he'll do to _us_ is kind of the problem. On top of that, I know Lucarios can feel people, so sneaking around them is a no go. Whatever is planned needs to be sudden. They need to have little time to react or sense us coming."

Randy blinked. "You lost me at the butterflies part."

Taylor sighed, glancing at her companion. "We need to ambush them without any possibility of knowing we're there. If we can do it in a way where we at least won't be damaged in trying it, we might find out more about them. That's assuming if we'll alert them at all."

"It doesn't help that the Riolu is predictable, yet the other guy isn't."

"Which is why we need to _find_ him, and capture him, because we need to learn more about his species."

The infirmary doors suddenly opened, a doctor coming through. "Peter Crews is almost fully recovered. His headache is persisting, so it'll be a while longer," she said.

"Thank you," Taylor said.

"Do you wish to see him? He's fully able to walk now."

Taylor thought about it for a moment. At first she wanted to say no to leave him to recover. Yet at the same time he had not seen them for a while. It might be worth it for his health. Finally she then replied, "Sure."

The doctor nodded. "He'll be out in a moment," she said before walking into the infirmary again.

Full of thought, Taylor turned the bottle in her hands a few times. "We're going to need to find a way to bring them here."

"Hmm," Randy hummed, thinking. "So Auros is like the radar between them, right? If he's dead or unconscious, it makes getting them easier."

"And it makes the other one run away, with or without him. Finding him again wouldn't be easy unless I brought my Slurpuff with me."

"Exactly!"

"Do we really have to kill Auros, though? I mean-"

"Or just bring tranquilizer stuff with us. If we bring 'im in too, we might get some useful data. You know? It could let us perfect cloning Pokémon."

"It could just escape like it just did, you know."

The infirmary doors opened once more, Peter walking through it, dressed in a gown specifically for patients. "What did I miss?" he said.

"Just trying to think of a plan," Taylor replied. "I told you we'd try and get them, you know."

Peter nodded. "Y-yeah, I see."

"Is something wrong?" Randy asked him, noticing the stutter.

"No-nothing's wrong, it's alright." He closed the door behind him. "What... happened while that Riolu knocked me out?"

"He took off along with the cat creature we found at the gate before."

"I knew he was trouble..."

"We all did," Taylor spoke up. "Catching him is a must though. A talking Pokémon with abilities like his would be useful. That is, talks without telepathy."

Peter nodded. "So... the plan? Come up with anything?"

Nodding as well, Randy said, "We still have some ideas, Peter."

**XXX**

_Meanwhile..._

**XXX**

It was already half an hour of walking, carrying Auros in Vexx's arms. Being almost the same size, this naturally was starting to grind his energy down into meager dust. Sighing heavily, he said to the unconscious Riolu, "Auros, for Alchemy's sake, would you please just awaken already? I'm not blindly walking this time; I can't carry you the way I somehow managed to pull off doing before."

Approaching the nearest tree, he leaned his back against it, setting the Pokémon down beside him. Just a moment later, he lifted his back off of the trunk to lower himself to sit next to Auros, avoiding snagging his fur against the bark.

The catsura started poking what looked like the Riolu's black-colored secondary ears. "Auros, wake uuup!" he said. But with curiosity, he carefully lifted the one he was poking, seeing where the canal for his ear would be-only to see nothing of the sort. "What... is this?" he questioned, looking around it to further examine the appendage. "This isn't an ear then, is it?" Lowering it back down, his train of thought continued in his mind. _What is that for, then? I should pay more attention to those two when I can, perhaps. I wonder what purpose they serve, because I doubt it's for... cuteness._ His head turned away, looking forwards. _Though the fluctuations of energy with them seem to be mildly more active than the rest of his body. Hmm..._

At that moment, Auros' eyes slowly began to open, as his breathing became slightly erratic, signaling that his body was now waking up. He briefly registered the familiar voice of Vexx, but was unable to make out anything too coherent. Letting out a quiet groan, he realized that he was parallel with the ground and elevated; yet his eyes were a bit too fuzzy still to figure out why.

The hybrid's ears perked, catching the sound of Auros' body stirring, his consciousness slowly being regained. Slightly turning his head, he looked at the Riolu. "Congratulations on witnessing your first indescribable horror." His head turned back, looking forward once more. "Fortunately for me-well, that is if you want to call it fortunate-I already saw enough for me to not be so easily surprised."

Instinctively, Auros winced. The words made the same images he saw before he passed out flash through his mind once more, and he felt queasy again.

"Y-yeah.. I guess it was my first…" Shakily, Auros stood up, his legs wobbling slightly. He still felt fairly faint, and it wasn't helping that he felt like he had been unconscious for weeks. After a few paw swipes at his eyes to ease the process of adjusting to the sunlight, he looked around. The air was fresh, the sky clear, and the trees swayed in the gentle breeze. It was almost a utopic scene, had it not been for the slaughter of bodies he had seen earlier. Auros shuddered once more, clearing the images away.

"Anyways… where are we now? How long was I out?"

Vexx quickly felt a bit guilty. _I probably shouldn't have reminded him,_ he thought. _Though... getting it to slowly drain from his mind from time passing would probably do better. Who knows if we're in a predicament and he's still dwelling on it more than he probably should be?_

Snapping himself from his mind, he proceeded to answer the question, "Umm, well we're about 35 minutes ahead from where you were last awake. The human city is still quite a few miles away. I think." His amethyst eyes blinked. "One moment." And in a puff of purple, he completely vanished from view.

Auros stared at the spot Vexx had previously been sitting, unsure of how to react to that. He shook his head, his mouth slightly open. "Vexx..?"

"No need for worry Auros, I'm at the top of the tree," his voice casted itself downward to the Riolu's ears. "And I can tell that it might take us an hour more until we've reached the city!" He suddenly reappeared where he was sitting before, now standing there, leaning against the trunk with a bright smile across his face.

Auros nodded in response. "Which direction?"

"North-northeast." With his unoccupied paw, the hybrid pointed his finger in the respective way they had to go.

It was a fair distance to be sure, and Auros wasn't about to take the same route back. He figured they should probably circle around a bit more in an attempt to find an alternate route through. One that preferably had less dead bodies. Shaking his head of the mental image once more, Auros briefly looked at Vexx.

"We should try and circle around. While approaching the city may be the most direct approach, I get the strange feeling that we may encounter people looking for us. I'm not exactly sure why. After all, those guys shooting at me were running for the forest. If anything, I'd imagine they'd head for the city first and then fan out from there.. but it's truly impossible to tell." He sighed, closing his eyes. The two aura receptors on the back of his head hummed softly and began to vibrate gently, indicating that they had become active. They had also raised a small amount.

While he couldn't render the world around him yet much farther than a couple meters, he could see large concentrations of emotions quite clearly, even if they were far away. A noticeable one was traveling fairly fast, heading directly towards the city. It was only a few hundred feet away. He watched as it disappeared, and a few seconds later, another appear coming from the city.

_Vehicles, _Auros thought to himself. _How do I know that..? _Once again, the answer to this question eluded him. He wasn't particularly sure how long it would be evasive, but he was determined to find out one day.

Regardless, the use of his aura was already beginning to wear him down, and he opened his eyes again. He stared at the ground, trying to regain concentration on the real world.

"Agreed entirely. But... er... Auros, what were you _just_ doing that made the appendages lift in that manner?" His head tilted a bit in curiosity. "Originally I thought they were a second pair of ears, but upon closer inspection I realized this was incorrect.

"Hm..?" Auros looked up at Vexx, his vision still swimming around a bit. "Oh.. I was using my aura to detect any emotions in the area. Naturally, everyone has aura, but these-" He lifted up on one of the black appendages, flopping it around in his paw. "-I use to enhance my own abilities. They basically allow me to see aura.. so I was able to detect that there are human vehicles nearby, traveling to and from the city. We should probably start there."

"This explains why I can feel energy surging through them more than the rest of your body." He lowered his paw from the trunk, no longer leaning against it and standing straight. "Anyways, lead the way once you're ready!" he tunefully said.

Nodding, Auros glanced at Vexx once more, before setting off towards the road. In his mind, all it would be is a simple walk near the road - obviously, they wouldn't be close enough so that the humans driving by would _see _them, but they could still follow the road into the city. Perhaps it would be more regulated, so that he wouldn't have to encounter any more horrendous sights.

A few minutes later, the duo arrived at the road, after Auros halted them just outside the visible range of any potential drivers to scan for anyone approaching. Once he was sure they were clear at least for the new minute or so, he walked out onto the strange surface of the road, which he actually _wasn't _familiar with. It was fairly heated to the touch on his toes, which baffled Auros. He quickly jogged back off the road and back into the cover of the foliage.

"The surface of the road is heated. I'm not exactly sure why.. but we should follow it to the city."

"I don't know for sure why it's heated as well," the catsura responded, remaining close behind the Riolu after his return. "I doubt it's friction from the wheels that keep these vehicles consistently mobile. But whatever the case may be, if it's that heated, then it's likely that it's not meant for anything organic to cross."

"Hm.. I suppose." Auros began to walk towards the city, staying parallel with the road. "If we continue to follow this, eventually we should arrive at the city. Let's just hope that actually _getting in_ won't be too difficult."

**XXX**

Rays of light began to filter through a small opening that was becoming wider and wider, as the sound of loud hydraulics rang about in a massive room. The metal shutters that were opening creaked and groaned until fully open, and a hangar the size of a football field - which was underground, but it's entire roof opened to the surface - revealed itself to the various flying Pokémon above, who scattered away in fear.

"How long is this operation going to last?" a man asked, climbing a set of stairs towards the hangar. His black hair was slightly ruffled, having not gotten much sleep over the past day. As a helicopter pilot in the emerging group known as AGR - Astrias Government Resurgence - his job was quite strenuous on his life. The group, for the moment, is entirely funded by Astrias Industries, who make their profit from selling their technology on the black market. The older generation of officials at Astrias created AGR for one purpose - retake was they considered theirs. Ever since Sinnoh retook control of the region, the group wanted to take it back, to contain that power once more in their hands.

However, their only snag was that they lacked the resources to mount a successful counterattack. As a result, they contacted some of the disgruntled population directly outside Sinnoh, to the south, where it was temporarily decided to form a group specifically designed to combat the combined coalition of Sinnoh, Kalos, and Hoenn. Sure, it was a hefty task, but guerilla tactics go a long way.

"Probably all day," his gunner said. In response, the man groaned and shook his head.

"Again? I am wiped. If I crash this thing, you can blame it on command."

Known by his squadmates as Jack - his full name never truly disclosed - he had formed a very close bond with his co-pilot and gunner Hannah, who had been working with him for years. Originally, they flew helicopters in the Sinnoh Airforce and had worked to disperse the remaining rebel activity after the overthrow of the dictatorship. However, after some failures on Sinnoh's part to compensate them for their efforts due to lack of funds, they fled in anger to Astrias Industries, and were given the task of disrupting civilian and military activities that occurred in the region, and intentionally cause as much mayhem and chaos as possible for the counterattack.

Their helicopter, assigned to them a few weeks ago, was known by the callsign "Houndoom", in respect to the powerful fire-type Pokémon. The helicopter itself was designed to operate at night, and to perform its missions stealthily. Its surfaces were designed to reflect radar, and it was slim to prevent easy sight of it. It was painted jet black to fit in with the night sky, and it had the ability to run in an "ultra-quiet" mode, where everything would be muffled at the expense of a rapid heat buildup.

In the event that they had to engage targets, it was armed with an autocannon for light enemies, rocket pods for groups of enemies, and long-range lock-on missiles for heavily armored enemies that were far away. It was extremely formidable, having the capability to fly for hours and take several hits if necessary. It was also the only one.

Jack climbed into the pilot seat, after some preliminary checks on his health and gear. Hannah did the same, climbing into her seat directly in front of the pilot, where she operated all the weapons.

"Checking radio. Are you getting this?" Jack asked through the microphone attached in his helmet.

"Yep. At least the skies are clear today.. but that might provide some issues of its own.. Did you remember to check countermeasures? I don't want a repeat of last time.."

"Yeah, yeah. Neither do I." Jack held up his hand, looking at the ground crew gathered outside the helicopter. He gave them a thumbs-up, signaling that he was ready to go. They cleared the area, and he started up the engine.

A few moments later, and they were hovering just above the hangar doors, which slowly closed beneath them.

"Alright… now. Command wants us to patrol SH-34, the one that leads from Astrias Industries to Crown City. They want us to find the escaped clone from the Auros project, as well as another unidentified creature. I don't know why they think we'll be successful, because we patrolled that road all day yesterday and found nothing. I doubt they'd expose themselves like that, just walking directly on it, if they had an ounce of intelligence."

Hannah chuckled, leaning forward towards the console and peering through the TV, where she surveyed the surrounding area with the autocannon. "I'm sure they are pretty smart. Besides, what would we even do if we actually _did _find them? Last I heard, they wanted them alive."

"Yeah, you're just echoing my own thoughts now. See what I mean? I told Travis that we are closer than he says we are. But noooo… he is just so adamant that we hate each other." Jack began to push forward on his control stick, angling the helicopter towards the ground once they were at a sufficient height, and generating thrust behind them. They gained speed, moving over the surface quickly towards the road they were assigned to check.

"I don't know why he does that, but just ignore him. Keep your eyes open. Flying in the day is dangerous, and I don't want to be spotted at all. Going down in this thing would be a nightmare.. who decided removing the ejection feature in a helicopter would be a good idea to remove weight?"

Jack laughed, but didn't respond. The thought of it worried him too; if they do get shot down, their only option is to stay in the aircraft and _hope _for a soft landing - not likely due to the massive amount of ammunition they carry - or jump out and hope for only _half _their body broken. He grimaced, trying to focus on flying instead.

"Keep it steady. I'm switching to FLIR now since we're over the road. Should help us see anything that our regular eyes would miss."

"Yep, that's typically what FLIR is for.." Jack responded sarcastically, keeping the helicopter as steady as possible. They followed the road almost perfectly, the helicopter high enough so that any civilians would just assume it was any old civilian helicopter. Not that any civilians _would _be down the road this far. Most thought it was just a dead end, and didn't realize that only a couple hundred feet was between them and a massive complex.

"Wait."

Jack pulled back on his control stick, bringing the helicopter to a hover in the air. Hannah's single word made him frantically look around, almost expecting a Sinnoh fighter jet to come by and strafe them. After a few seconds, he built up the courage to speak again.

"Seriously, Hannah? Don't scare me like that. I thought we were toast."

"Not us, but I do see some targets. A duo, specifically. Maybe it's who we're looking for. I'm going to zoom in and see if I can't get a better view of them.. they are right next to the road, but foliage makes it hard to see them. Can you fly a bit closer? Try not to alert them."

Jack nodded, his experience in flying aircraft told him just about the altitude where humans could normally hear helicopters clearly. He slowly brought it down a few dozen meters, still keeping it steady for Hannah, who was peering so close at the TV screen that she was becoming cross-eyed. He leaned over in his seat and looked outside of the canopy, noticing that they were on _that _dangerous stretch of road, the one he feared every day on the way to the AGS complex. It was only a couple feet away from a massive cliff. Every year, he hears of at least one incident where a rookie driver takes the corner too fast and flies off the cliff, breaking right past the guardrail and getting killed hundreds of feet below. He cursed the Sinnoh government for the umpteenth time, knowing full well that the _previous _government would have done something about it by now.

"As expected, they encountered the cliff and crossed-..well, _one of them_ jumped pretty much the whole road. The other just somehow appeared on the other side. The FLIR picked up a spike in heat, and that's about it. They didn't even try to touch the road. I don't know why. But I was able to identify them in that time, and it is definitely our targets. Contact command immediately and let them know we've located them. Get them to send a task force to recapture them."

Jack nodded in his seat, switching to the main helicopter radio and requesting a channel with the command units.

"_Houndoom, go ahead."_

"Right.. uh.. command, we've located the targets. They've just crossed a road near the SH-34 cliff, and we can track them until a task force arrives to recapture them."

"_Understood, Houndoom. There is no need to wait. Eliminate the targets immediately and return to base - we can't risk them escaping again."_

"Command? Are you sure about this? That's… I mean, they're high value targets. We might be able to extract info-"

"_Houndoom, you are to proceed to neutralize them no matter what. Command out."_

Jack clicked the mic and switched back to the internal radio. "Did you get that?" he quickly asked Hannah.

"Yeah."

"What should we do-"

"_DAMMIT!" _

Jack jolted momentarily from the shout his co-pilot made, causing the helicopter to shake slightly. He gripped the control stick firmly, resisting the urge to wipe the sweat off his forehead - a task impossible to do with his helmet on.

"Hannah?" Jack asked cautiously, but she stayed quiet for a few moments, before speaking up.

"We need to. I don't want to, but we need to. Okay? Get the helicopter closer."

**XXX**

Auros hummed softly, giving up on figuring out how he knew the tune he was humming. They had been traveling for about an hour, still close to the road. Only a few cars had passed since they set off, which was surprising to them considering the sheer size of the Astrias Industries complex.

He stopped humming, and thought of something. "Hey, Vexx. You probably are more knowledgeable than I am." He paused for a second, thinking of how to word what he wanted to ask. "Sometimes I _know _how to do something, or know what something is, despite the fact that I really don't know how I received that information or learned how to do such thing. How could that be? How could I know how to do something so well without ever learning _how_?"

It did not take much time for the hybrid to come up with an answer. Unfortunately, it did not sound like it would be the prettiest of answers that he could give. "Judging by how you came out of what was a highly-valued facility, which had a multitude of guards, and mention of projects, I'd say you escaped a research facility. Empirically speaking, research facilities often mean tests. Experiments. And because of you, and based on your hunch from before that you're not 'normal', you are likely either created or modified by such people. And because you already know things without first 'learning' then, it's likely you were modified in some way, but it ended in you losing memories prior to being in that facility. Although losing your memories would imply that such prior knowledge, such as speaking, would likely be lost or at least partially inhibited. Unless, however... they took up cloning there as well, which is the most logical conclusion that I can think of currently."

"Think about it though," Vexx continued. "You just left what could very well be a top secret research facility with no prior knowledge outside of it. Doesn't that sound suspicious to you? It's likely you had it, or they put it in you and you don't remember any of it. Resurrection? Cloning? Creation? Mental manipulation? I don't know, but these are the most likely hypotheses that I can personally think of. Though alternatively, you could theorize it to be from instincts as well. I don't know your kind that well, so perhaps I could very well be wrong. However, if based on what _I_ know of instincts, it cannot go that far. It couldn't allow you to do all of this."

"Right. I haven't been able to discern the difference between instinct and what is _somehow _prior knowledge. I don't know.." The Riolu sat on the ground, taking a quick break from walking. He closed his eyes, trying to recall the past.

"_He lifted his muzzle, taking in a scent that he didn't know, but knew that it meant something had died anyways."_

Auros' eyes opened slightly, before he shook his head in despair. "Ah.. cloning sounds right. It would make the most... logical sense." Without another word, he stood up and began to walk parallel with the road once more, flicking his tail as an indication to follow.

"You don't sound very moved," Vexx said to the Riolu, following once more. "I take it you're simply... accepting the circumstances as they are, then?"

"I suppose," Auros said sadly, keeping his eyes locked forwards. "I know the route to my cloning was probably not one that I will ever truly know, nor will want to know. It still bugs me though." A moment passed, and the Riolu's ear twitched, but he chose to ignore it.

Shaking his head, Vexx placed his paw on the Pokemon's shoulder, provoking him to suddenly stop moving. It was not a shake that dismissed Auros' feelings, but something much different.

"Even if the cloning theory is true... in fact, regardless of whatever the truth is, you're still yourself. I know that you're a good person; I know you're going to make just about all the best decisions in the future. In the future, consisting of events we'll have to go through together. After all, Arceus chose you and I; as such, I trust him. Whether you're a clone or not, Auros... you're still a person-yourself. And speaking as a friend to you, I don't think I would want to have it any other way."

After his shoulder was released, the Riolu smiled faintly, stopping to allow the words to sink in. "_Thank you.."_ he muttered softly, before continuing onwards. "You know, for what it's worth, being cloned isn't all that bad anyways. I'm pretty sure I'm more powerful than my predecessor anyways, and that's _gotta _be good, right?"

Again, his ear twitched, and this time he was a bit perplexed. He didn't hear anything out of the ordinary, nor was there anything that was irritating it. He turned and looked at Vexx with a confused look, coming to a halt once more.

"We could look at it as an unfortunate situation with a fortu-" Vexx's reply came to a sudden stop, looking at Auros in the eyes once he turned around, a face written the language of concern and confusion. "Auros...?" he asked, the pace in the catsura's tone was inadvertently a bit slow.

Auros looked around and squinted his eyes, focusing his hearing as much as possible. Failing to detect anything, he shook his head. "Sorry… I keep thinking I'm hearing something, but it just turns out to be nothing. Have you been hearing anything?" he said, turning back around and walking forward, though at a slightly increased and stressed pace.

"I can hear lower pitches as well as a human can, but significantly higher frequencies means my ears will try to tune into the source of that noise," Vexx replied. "And often they tune to that source rather quickly as well. If your hearing exceeds that, then I'm not the one to ask. _Unless_ you're slightly deaf, then you have my sympathy." _And as it is, I've given you enough sympathy to fill the largest void._

Vexx then tilted his head, thinking. "If you're sensing something and I'm not, however, and on top of your theorizing you're not a… 'standard creature', if you will, then you may be detecting something. Alternatively, stress and your mind both are toying with your senses." The catsura's pace quickened enough to stay with Auros' speed.

_Agh.. _"Yes, yes, I understand. It could be practically anything. I just don't even know what to believe anymore; if it's just myself, or my ears acting up, or perhaps even something _is _there and I should be extr-" The Riolu's sentence was cut off by a sudden threat to their safety - a sharp drop that seemed to appear quite literally out of nowhere. The foliage blocked his vision from the hazard, and it was certainly a surprise to be greeted by a fall that would undoubtedly kill him if he _didn't _catch himself.

In the moment of panic, Auros scrambled around and pounced forward with his paws extended, crashing directly into Vexx and sending them both to the ground.

"We.. need to… cross.. here.." he mumbled in between pants, the moment of adrenaline slowly ebbing away.

Now on his back, the hybrid calmly rubbed the Riolu's head. Releasing a giggle, he then said, "You really should be a bit more aware of your surroundings, even during the threat of danger. Of course though, I understand; this is all still quite new to you." His paws then went to Auros' shoulders, prepared to help in lifting him from Vexx's body.

Auros sighed and gratefully nodded to Vexx, using him as leverage to get off the ground. After intricately dusting himself off, he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah… to be fair, I didn't expect a giant cliff to be there. It looked so unnatural too, but I was only looking for.. maybe a half of a second..? Regardless.." He whipped his head around a couple times, reorienting himself, and padded forward towards the road. "..to advance any further, we're going to _have _to cross here. Unless we want to be walking on the road."

Smiling, Vexx pointed to the Pokémon's right ear. "You've something on you," he chimed, a bit playfully.

"Huh..?" Auros pawed at his ear, only to have swatted at a completely purple butterfly. It had a faint purple emanation, and it didn't fail to intrigue the Riolu. He followed it with his green eyes, his mouth slightly agape. "That's.. interesting. I've never seen- well.. _recalled _seeing a butterfly quite like this."

"Let me put it this way: For future reference, just about anything I do comes out with this color. Except... when I make duplicates of me, that's a different... er..." Vexx shook his head briefly. "Forget it. Moving on, this will help us get across!" His head then turned, watching his creation as it fluttered in the air.

The mesmeric creature flew above the cars, far up enough that it will not be identified as more than a beautiful thing fluttering about. Any closer and its other details such as its subtle glow and lack of other colors would make it more easily noticed.

Gracefully, it made its way to the other side of the road. It landed inside of a bush, now removed from Auros' view.

His smile unshaken, Vexx looked back at the Pokémon. A faint ring of purple was amassing right beneath him. Slowly, it grew until it was at least twice the catsura's size in diameter, and it brightened until it was as clear as his eyes on a clear day.

"These are portals," Vexx said to Auros, stepping off of the bright circle that he was on top of. "Simply step on top, and you'll be transported instantaneously to the other side. If you're not used to instantly switching locations, you may want to close your eyes..." he cautioned, his face now with a slight smirk.

It made quite the hum as well. It was not the quietest thing to exist, but the vehicles that passed both ways across the road were thankfully loud enough to drown the noise that Vexx's portal was making.

Auros warily eyed the portal, before slowly shaking his head and bowing his head in apology. "Sorry... I just don't feel completely safe. I trust you, but past experiences..." Unsurprisingly, the Riolu shuddered, but ignored his memories of the complex.. at least, the memories that made sense to him.

"Besides, I think I can jump the whole road..." Sucking in a breath of air, Auros easily leaped across the entire road, his legs having no challenge. He even overcompensated his own jump - having never tried a jump of that magnitude before - and crashed into an array of thorny bushes lining the other side of the road.

Watching as the Riolu soared through the air, Vexx looked at his portal again. "Right before I could push him into it, too. Though I don't blame him." His hindpaws were then placed on top of the shining circle. "I just figured lower profiles would suffice. Especially since we're not off of Astrias Industries' radar yet." With that, he vanished, the portal soon dissipating as well.

Now opposite to where they were, Vexx quickly made his way out of one of the bushes. Much to his dismay however, it took small bits of his fur with him.

_Nooooo! No, no, no!_ he thought irritatedly, now that he was out of the painful foliage. After sighing heavily, trying to ignore the additional damage done due to not taking into account of the possibility that these bushes were barbed as well, he started looking for Auros. _I have such great experiences so far with Earth and its flora,_ he said in his mind with a very sarcastic tone.

After a few rustling noises and the sound of an exasperated Pokémon, Auros fumbled out of the bushes groaning. Various thorns were sticking out from all locations on him, and he rubbed his head. "Ah.. probably should have been more careful with my jump there. It could have done so much more… well.. more..."

The Riolu trailed off, both of his ears twitching suddenly. The sound he recognized almost immediately, and he whipped around, not even having to rely on his sensitive hearing to be able to detect it.

_Helicopter._

"There you are," Vexx spoke as he walked up to Auros. Noting the posture however, he looked in the same direction, focusing on his senses to try and notice what Auros had detected. "What… did you find?"

The Riolu squinted his eyes, trying to find it, to no avail. "It's.. a human machine. Helicopter. Not sure if you know what it is…" He trailed off, too concerned with the approaching sound. Focusing in the general direction of it, he frantically searched the skies for the supposed helicopter.

"A helicopter?" the hybrid asked. From his world, he knows what they look like, but he did not quite expect something similar to be around as well.

They were mostly vertical in design and had a single blade for propelling itself. In addition, being made by a race on his homeworld of Tyria that focused on military, it was not among the most sleek or elegant of designs. It did, however, do the trick when it was needed the most. Although a civilian helicopter was something that was never heard of.

"I know what they are," he continued. "I know what they do, what they can be for..." Backing away a bit, he kept his senses active and his body ready to take action-including, but not limited to running-if it ever became a necessity. Should something occur, he was ready to assist Auros. Even if it were for a hasty getaway, he was prepared.

_I'm not used to helicopters that don't make so much noise, then,_ Vexx thought. _This must be a much different design than what I've normally seen or heard of. The pitch its rotors make must be low enough as well that it evades my own range of hearing. Or for that matter, about any other average feline. Meaning it's more advanced than what I would have imagined..._

"Yeah… a helicopter…" Auros stared into the cloudless sky, before spotting a small black shape. It grew closer, still making a very faint but noticeable noise. His neck craned finally as he watched it fly overhead, _definitely _in view now, and disappearing in the distance again. He stared at Vexx queringly.

"I saw it that time. It was armed, meaning it's designed for combat in some way." Turning his head to look back at Auros, he said, "Know what that means? They might have dispatched it to find us. And if it noticed us, I think it's about to circle around." His head turned back to the helicopter that flew above them. "And by that I mean get a good angle to fire upon us. In retrospect, being near the road was a bad idea. I didn't think aerial vehicles were available to them, but I shouldn't have underestimated the technology so drastically here..."

"I'm.. I'm just not sure.. it didn't even try to attack us on the first pass, why would it circle around? Maybe it didn't even see us." Auros peered out from the foliage once more, looking in the sky to see if the helicopter circled around. After a few moments, he retracted his head and turned it back in the direction the helicopter came from. "It doesn't even look like it's coming back. We should-"

A small flash of light caught Auros' eye, and he looked up. _Glint off a metal surface. Metal? In the sky..?_

Any further attempt to contemplate that question was immediately suppressed by the sudden plume of flame and smoke, and an _explosive _shockwave that sent Auros careening directly onto the road. His knees and paws skidded roughly on the surface, creating small marks of blood.

Unable to stop himself, his singed body pulled itself under the guardrail and directly off the cliff, down towards the forest that rested hundreds of feet below.

**XXX**

Apologies for the slightly shorter chapter, but hopefully the cliffhangar will make up for it. Eh, who am I kidding. Of course it won't.

Thanks for the continued support from **black snakes, timitin147 and GameManiac**.


End file.
